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A Sensitive Nanothermometer Based on DNA Triplex Structure

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Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications (BIC-TA 2022)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1801))

Abstract

DNA has been used to construct a variety of nanoscale thermometers due to its unique thermodynamic properties. It has proven to be one of the most promising, yet challenging aspects of DNA-based thermometers, to obtain significant signal changes when the temperature changes slightly. Here, we propose a strategy to construct nanoscale thermometers with sensitive temperature responses based on DNA triplex. The thermometers consist of a CT-rich DNA strand and stabilizing strands, whose conformations vary with temperature. By adjusting the sequence design or introducing mismatch bases in stabilizing strands, the temperature response interval of the thermometer can be reduced to 7\(\,^\circ \text {C}\), which lead to higher sensitivity compared to the interval of 12–15\(\,^\circ \text {C}\)  for conventional designs. The temperature responses of the thermometer are characterized by fluorescence experiments. The fluorescence kinetics experiments demonstrate the good repeatability. The design of the nanothermometer will be helpful for constructing advanced nanosystem with sensitive temperature responses as well as long service times.

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Acknowledgment

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62172171), Zhejiang Lab (2021RD0AB03), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HUST: 2019kfyXMBZ056), and the Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (ZD2022098).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control of Education Ministry of China, School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Zhekun Chen, Chun Xie, Kuiting Chen & Linqiang Pan

  2. College of Information Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang, 050043, China

    Yingxin Hu

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  1. Zhekun Chen
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  4. Kuiting Chen
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  5. Linqiang Pan
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Correspondence to Linqiang Pan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Linqiang Pan

  2. Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

    Dongming Zhao

  3. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Lianghao Li

  4. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Jianqing Lin

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Chen, Z., Hu, Y., Xie, C., Chen, K., Pan, L. (2023). A Sensitive Nanothermometer Based on DNA Triplex Structure. In: Pan, L., Zhao, D., Li, L., Lin, J. (eds) Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications. BIC-TA 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1801. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1549-1_52

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1549-1_52

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-99-1548-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-99-1549-1

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