Enzymatic Amplification of DNA/RNA Hybrid Molecular Beacon Signaling in Nucleic Acid Detection

摘要

A rapid assay operable under isothermal or non-isothermal conditions is described wherein the sensitivity of a typical molecular beacon (MB) system is improved by utilizing thermostable RNase H to enzymatically cleave an MB comprised of a DNA stem and RNA loop (R/D-MB). Upon hybridization of the R/D-MB to target DNA, there was a modest increase in fluorescence intensity (~5.7x above background) due to an opening of the probe and concomitant reduction in the Förster resonance energy transfer efficiency. Addition of thermostable RNase H resulted in the cleavage of the RNA loop which eliminated energy transfer. The cleavage step also released bound target DNA, enabling it to bind to another R/D-MB probe and rendering the approach a cyclic amplification scheme. Full processing of R/D-MBs maximized the fluorescence signal to the fullest extent possible (12.9x above background), resulting in a ~2–2.8 fold increase in the signal-to-noise ratio observed isothermally at 50 °C following the addition of RNase H. The probe was also used to monitor real-time PCR reactions by measuring enhancement of donor fluorescence upon R/D-MB binding to amplified pUC19 template dilutions. Hence, the R/D-MB-RNase H scheme can be applied to a broad range of nucleic acid amplification methods.