Medicinal Chemistry

Elucidation of a "Signal-ON" Mechanism of Aggregation-Induced Emission Dye-Labelled DNA/DNA Duplexes and Application of a Repeat DNA Detection Method

Abstract

Takashi Murashima, Koji Kawamura and Ai Matsumoto

We reveal a fluorescence enhancement mechanism of an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-DNA probe for target DNA detection. The enhancement is caused by the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR) effect that arises from steric hindrance between the AIE dye moiety in a hybridized probe and the dangling end (free-ssDNA) or peripheral dsDNA. Thus, these AIE-DNA probes can selectively detect two or more DNA repeat sequences, such as telomeric repeats.