Patent Application: US-201314442243-A

Abstract:
denaturation and hybridisation of double - stranded dna is a crucial reaction in many biological processes , such as dna replication . dna denaturation and hybridisation can be controlled by e . g . temperature , altering the ph and ionic strength and different chemical agents . this reversible reaction also plays a role in many diagnostic - based methods and applications such as any nucleic acid amplification method . the present invention provides alternate means to control denaturation and hybridisation of nucleic acids comprising contacting a nucleic acid molecule with a compound capable of interacting with a nucleic acid molecule and altering the state or a property of the compound to achieve denaturation or hybridisation of the nucleic acid molecule .

Description:
the present invention will now be described with reference to the figures which show : fig1 : scheme showing the oxidation and reduction of daunorubicin ( daunomycin , dm ). fig2 : dna melting curves recorded at 1 ° c ./ min for 200 μm 20 mer or 40 mer dna in presence and absence of 100 μm dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ). reduced daunorubicin ( dm ) is obtained chemically using nabh 4 in excess ( 5 mm ). ( a ) 20 mer at 0 . 036 × ssc , ( b ) 40 mer at 0 . 036 × ssc and ( c ) 20 mer at 0 . 1 × ssc . unlike dm red , dm ox increases t m of dna in all three conditions . dashed lines represent optimal working temperatures in electrochemical switch experiments . fig3 : electrochemical characterisation of 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc with cyclic voltammetry . 10 th cv scan at room temperature , recorded at 10 mv / s , where e c =− 0 . 41 v and e a =− 0 . 61 v . fig4 : electrochemical characterisation of 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc with spectroelectrochemistry . uv - vis spectra recorded every 60 s at 58 ° c . whilst cycling − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v . λ ( dm ox )= 233 nm , 253 nm and 480 nm . λ ( dm red )= 262 nm and 435 nm . a constant decrease is observed for reduction peaks . fig5 : uv - vis spectra of 200 μm 20 mer dna in presence of 100 μm dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ) in 0 . 036 × ssc during cycling of − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v . recorded every 60 s at 58 ° c . electrochemical dna denaturation and hybridisation is observed at 260 nm upon cycling the redox - state of dm . fig6 : uv - vis spectra of 200 μm 20 mer dna in presence of 100 μm dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ) in 0 . 036 × ssc during cycling of − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v . recorded every 60 s at 25 ° c . ( dna hybridised ). due to considerably smaller changes at 260 nm , dna denaturation is not observed upon cycling the redox - state of dm . fig7 : uv - vis spectra of 200 μm 20 mer dna in 0 . 036 × ssc during cycling of − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v at 25 ° c . dna is not affected by potential cycling . denaturation is only obtained upon increasing to 85 ° c . fig8 : switch - diagram of absorbances at 260 nm for 20 mer dna at 0 . 036 × ssc . ( a ) cycling of 20 mer dna denaturation and hybridisation in presence of dm ( n = 4 ), with controls omitting dm ( n = 3 ) or dna ( n = 3 ). ( b ) comparison of the difference at a 260 nm between reduction and oxidation . the increase in absorbance is larger for dna in presence of dm than for dm alone . error bars represent standard error . fig9 : switch - diagram of absorbances at 260 nm for 40 mer dna at 0 . 036 × ssc . ( a ) cycling of 40 mer dna denaturation and hybridisation in presence of dm ( n = 4 ), with controls omitting dm ( n = 3 ) or dna ( n = 3 ). ( b ) comparison of the difference at a 260 nm between reduction and oxidation . the increase in absorbance is larger for dna in presence of dm than for dm alone . error bars represent standard error . fig1 : ( a ) summarised absorbances at 260 nm during electrochemical dna denaturation and hybridisation for 200 μm 20 mer dna with 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc at 58 ° c . ( n = 4 ) and 200 μm 40 mer dna with 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc at 65 ° c . ( n = 3 ). data corrected with mean a 260 nm obtained from 100 μm dm , in absence of dna , in 0 . 036 × ssc at 58 ° c . or 65 ° c . ( n = 3 ). ( b ) summarised hyperchromic shifts obtained at each reduction . error bars represent standard errors . fig1 : reduction and oxidation currents for ( a ) 20 mer in 0 . 036 × ssc ( b ) 40 mer in 0 . 036 × ssc and ( c ) 20 mer in 0 . 1 × ssc during cycling of dna denaturation and hybridisation . increasing length of the dna results in slight increase in currents . fig1 : circular dichroism ( dm ) spectra of hybridised dna at 25 ° c . and denatured dna at 85 ° c . of ( a ) 200 μm 20 mer dna in 0 . 036 × ssc and ( b ) 200 μm 20 mer dna in presence of 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc . change in cd upon denaturation can be seen at 275 nm for both samples . fig1 : cd spectra of 20 mer dna denaturation and hybridisation by cycling the redox - state of dm with − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v . at 200 μm dna in presence of 100 μm dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ), in 0 . 036 × ssc , spectra are recorded every 60 s at 58 ° c . change is observed at 275 nm . spectra corrected with the control dm in absence of dna , normalised to 400 nm and smoothed using the savitsky - golay function ( convolution width = 15 ). fig1 : switch - diagram of cd signals at 275 nm for 20 mer dna in presence of dm and two controls where either dna or dm is omitted . consistent switching in cd signal , upon cycling − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v , is only seen for dna in presence of dm . fig1 : reduction and oxidation current during cycling 20 mer dna denaturation and hybridisation , in presence of dm at 0 . 036 × ssc , performed on uv - vis or cd . fig1 : fluorescent - based melting curve analysis of 2 μm 20 mer dna in presence of 6 μm , 4 μm , 3 . 5 μm , 3 μm , 2 . 5 μm , 2 μm and 1 μm oxidised / reduced intercalator . dna in presence of ( a ) oxidised dm ; ( b ) reduced dm ; ( c ) oxidised am ; ( d ) reduced am ; ( e ) oxidised 9 - hydroxy ellipticine ( 9ohe ); ( f ) reduced 9ohe . molar ratios where oxidised intercalator is in excess show higher t m compared to when intercalator is reduced . fig1 : comparison of t m for 2 μm dna in presence 6 μm , 4 μm , 3 . 5 μm , 3 μm , 2 . 5 μm , 2 μm , 1 μm , 0 . 5 μm and 0 . 2 μm oxidised versus reduced ( a ) dm ; ( b ) am and ( c ) 9ohe . fig1 : difference in t m between dna with oxidised and reduced dm / am / 9ohe . the largest difference is seen for molar ratio 1 : 3 , i . e . where the intercalator is in excess . fig1 : epcr - based amplification , with all the relevant controls , on screen - printed carbon electrodes obtained by switching the redox - state of dm , through the application of 20 cycles of the reduction / oxidation potentials − 1 . 3 v /− 0 . 2 v , at the working temperature of 75 ° c . fig2 : gel electrophoretic - based quantification of 40 base pair long dsdna , in the absence and presence of various dm concentrations , using the bioanalyzer . increasing concentrations of dm decreased the ability of the bioanalyzer to correctly quantify the total amount of dna . fig2 : optimised epcr - based amplification , with relevant controls , on screen - printed platinum electrodes . fig2 : switch - diagram of absorbances at 260 nm for 20 mer dna at 0 . 1 × ssc . ( a ) cycling of 20 mer dna denaturation and hybridisation in presence of dm ( n = 3 ), with controls omitting dm ( n = 3 ) or dna ( n = 3 ). ( b ) comparison of the difference at a 260 nm between reduction and oxidation . the increase in absorbance is larger for dna in presence of dm than for dm alone . error bars represent standard error . fig2 : summarised absorbances at 260 nm during electrochemical dna denaturation and hybridisation for 200 μm 20 mer dna with 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc at 58 ° c . ( n = 4 ), 200 μm 40 mer dna with 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc at 65 ° c . ( n = 3 ) and 200 μm 20 mer dna with 100 μm dm in 0 . 1 × ssc at 60 ° c . ( n = 3 ). data corrected with mean a 260 nm obtained from 100 μm dm , in absence of dna , in 0 . 036 × ssc at 58 ° c ., 65 ° c . or 60 ° c . ( n = 3 ). ( b ) summarised hyperchromic shifts obtained at each reduction . error bars represent standard errors . all solutions were prepared or diluted with ultrapure milli - q water ( milli - q synthesis , resistance = 18 . 4 mω cm , millipore corporation , usa ). experiments were conducted in saline - sodium citrate buffer ( 1 × ssc , 0 . 15 m nacl with 15 mm trisodium citrate , ph 7 adjusted with hcl , fisher scientific , uk ) and diluted further as required . analytical grade ethanol , concentrated nitric acid ( hno 3 , vwr laboratories , uk ) and 0 . 1 m sulfric acid ( h 2 so 4 , bhd laboratories , uk ) was used for electrode and cuvette cleaning . all electrochemical / spectroelectrochemical experiments were performed with a three - electrode setup in a thin - layer spectroelectrochemical quartz cuvette ( pathlength 0 . 5 mm ) ( als - japan , japan ). here , a pt gauze working electrode ( we ) was used with a pt wire counter electrode ( ce ) and a single fritted ag / agcl ( 3 m nacl ) reference electrode ( re ) ( als japan , japan ). complementary 20 base - pair ( bp ) long oligonucleotides ( sense : 5 ′- aca agg atg aca agc aca gc - 3 ′, anti - sense : 5 ′- gct gtg ctt gtc atc ctt gt - 3 ′) and 40 bp long oligonucleotides ( sense : 5 ′- gtc ggt caa gaa cga gca ctc aag agc ctc agt cag acg a - 3 ′, anti - sense : 5 ′- tcg tct gac tga ggc tct tga gtg ctc gtt ctt gac cga c - 3 ′) were purchased from metabion international ag , germany . stock solutions were prepared by dissolving lyophilised dna in water and stored at − 20 ° c . concentrations were determined using nanodrop nd - 1000 uv / vis spectrophotometer ( nanodrop technologies inc ., usa ). daunomycin ( dm ) [( 8s , 10s )- 8 - acetyl - 10 -[( 3 - amino - 2 , 3 , 6 - trideoxy - α - l - lyxo - hexopyransoyl ) oxy ]- 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 - tetrahydro - 6 , 8 , 11 - trihydroxy - 1 - methoxy - 5 , 12 - naphthacenedione hydrochloride ; λ ex / em = 480 / 592 nm , £ 480 nm = 11 500 m − 1 cm − 1 ] was purchased from tocris bioscience , uk . stock solution was prepared by dissolving dm in water , aliquoted , and stored dark at − 80 ° c . the concentration was determined spectrophotometrically . all diluted solutions of dm were freshly prepared for each experiment . all spectrophotometric experiments were conducted on an agilent cary 60 uv - vis spectrophotometer equipped with a varian cary peltier accessory for temperature control ( agilent technologies , uk ). a digitron model 3900 thermocouple ( rs components , uk ) was used to monitor the temperature inside the cuvette . unless stated otherwise , all electrochemical experiments were conducted employing a palmsens handheld potentiostat / galvanostat ( palmsens , netherlands ). all circular dichroism experiments were performed on a jasco j - 810 circular dichroism spectropolarimeter equipped with a peltier thermoelectric type temperature controller ( jasco , uk ). all experiments were carried out with a 1 : 1 mixture of complementary oligonucleotides ( 20 mer or 40 mer ) at a by concentration of 200 μm in 0 . 036 × ssc , ph 7 ( unless stated otherwise ), with or without dm . dna was hybridised by an initial denaturation at 95 ° c . for 5 min at 450 rpm followed by cooling down to room temperature over 3 . 5 h . samples were stored for maximum a week at + 4 ° c . until used . intercalation of dm was carried out freshly before each experiment . dm was added to a final concentration of 100 μm resulting in a molar ratio of 2 : 1 . this was incubated at 25 ° c ., 450 rpm , for 10 min protected from light . the solution was degassed for 2 . 5 min and overlaid for 1 min with argon . the cuvette was cleaned with ethanol and water then finally dried with compressed air . 300 μl was added to the cuvette , followed by electrode assembly ( if applied ) and overlaying with mineral oil ( biomérieux , uk ). to further prevent evaporation the cuvette was sealed with teflon ® tape and parafilm ®. the pt gauze we and pt wire ce were immersed in concentrated hno 3 for 5 min at room temperature followed by rinsing with water and drying with a stream of n 2 . the we was cleaned electrochemically in 0 . 1 m h 2 so 4 using cyclic voltammetry . first , 1 . 4 v to − 0 . 2 v was cycled 40 times at 50 mv / s followed by 10 times cycling of 1 . 14 v to − 0 . 24 v at the same speed . electrodes were finally rinsed with water and dried with a stream of n 2 before use . melting curves were obtained for samples containing only dna , dna with oxidised dm and dna with reduced dm and were prepared as in section 2 . 1 . for samples containing reduced dm , the reduction was obtained chemically using sodium borohydride ( nabh 4 , sigma aldrich , uk ) 50 × in excess . following the hybridisation of dna and intercalation of dm , reduction took place by adding nabh 4 to a final concentration of 5 mm . the sample was incubated at 25 ° c ., 450 rpm , for 60 min and then degassed . after using the appropriate buffer as a blank , hybridisation and denaturation was recorded by scanning 200 - 800 nm at 4800 nm / min ( bandwidth 2 nm , interval 1 nm ) between 25 ° c . to 95 ° c . ( depending on sample investigated ) at 1 ° c ./ min . absorbance a 260 nm was plotted versus temperature t . the melting temperature ( t m ) was obtained from the peak value of the negative first derivative of the melting curve , i . e . t m =−( da 260 nm / dt ) max . the hyperchromic shift h was calculated according to h 260 nm =( a red − a ox / a red )× 100 . denaturation and hybridisation using circular dichroism was followed by endpoint measurements for samples containing only dna and dna with oxidised dm , and were prepared as described in section 2 . 1 . here , 400 μl was added to a quartz cuvette with a 1 mm pathlength . cd spectra were recorded at 25 ° c ., 85 ° c . and then 25 ° c . again by scanning 200 - 400 nm at 100 nm / min ( data pitch : 0 . 1 nm , response time : 1 s , bandwidth 1 nm ). at the end of the experiments , the appropriate buffer was measured as a blank . electroactivity of dm on an autolab potentiostat ( pgstat12 , metrohm autolab , uk ). electrodes were cleaned as described in section 2 . 2 . dm was diluted to a final concentration of 100 μm in 0 . 036 × ssc and followed by degassing . the potential range of 0 v to − 0 . 8 v was scanned 10 times at 10 mv / s . samples with dna and dm were prepared as in section 2 . 1 . the spectrophotometer was blanked using the appropriate buffer , sample added to the cuvette , electrodes assembled and finally the cuvette was sealed . the switch experiment was carried out between 58 ° c .- 65 ° c . depending on the sample being investigated . a reduction potential (− 0 . 8 v ) and an oxidation potential (+ 0 . 3 v ) was applied for 60 s , respectively , and cycled 5 times each . spectra were recorded every minute by scanning 800 - 200 nm at 4800 nm / min ( bandwidth 2 nm , interval 1 nm ), whereas the current was recorded continuously . the final reduction / oxidation cycle was conducted at 85 ° c .- 95 ° c . as an internal control . here , the investigated dna is expected to be denatured . as a control , the same experiment was carried without dna , i . e . only 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc ( unless stated otherwise ). additional controls were acquired by conducting experiments with and without dm at 25 ° c . here , the investigated dna is expected to be hybridised throughout the experiment . all samples and controls were measured at least three times . samples with 20 mer dna and dm were prepared as in section 2 . 1 . the sample was added to the cuvette , electrodes assembled and finally the cuvette was sealed . the switch experiment was carried out at 58 ° c . while the reduction potential (− 0 . 8 v ) and oxidation potential (+ 0 . 3 v ) was applied for 60 s , respectively , and cycled 5 times each . cd spectra were recorded , under positive n 2 pressure , every minute by scanning 200 - 400 nm at 500 nm / min ( data pitch 1 nm , response time 0 . 125 s , bandwidth 2 nm ), whereas the current was recorded continuously . as for the switch experiments conducted on the uv - vis spectrophotometer , see section 2 . 5 , the final reduction / oxidation cycle was acquired at 85 ° c . as an internal control . the same experiment was carried out without dna , i . e . only 100 μm dm in 0 . 036 × ssc ( unless stated otherwise ) as a control . additionally , experiments with and without dm at 25 ° c . were conducted . at the end of the experiments , the appropriate buffer was measured as a blank . all samples and controls were measured at least three times . in order to confirm electrochemical control of dna denaturation and hybridisation using the electroactive intercalator dm , melting curves of dna with oxidised and reduced form of dm were recorded , while the electroactivity of dm was investigated using cyclic voltammetry . this allowed defining optimal working temperature , as well as oxidation and reduction potentials , for the electrochemical switch experiments employing uv - vis and cd spectroelectrochemistry . efficiency of method was investigated by varying length of dna and salt concentration . melting curves , recorded spectrophotometrically by monitoring the absorbance at 260 nm ( a 260 nm ), from the three conditions investigated can be seen in fig2 where ( a ) and ( b ) represent 20 mer and 40 mer , respectively , in 0 . 036 × ssc ( 5 . 94 mm na + ) and ( c ) 20 mer in 0 . 1 × ssc ( 16 . 5 mm na + ). melting curves were obtained for dna alone ( control ) and dna in presence of oxidised and chemically reduced dm at 200 μm dna - bp with 100 μm dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ), regardless of oligonucleotide length . dm was reduced using nabh 4 in excess before acquiring the melting curve . table 1 summarises the t m and hyperchromic shifts of the obtained melting curves . in presence of oxidised dm , the t m of dna increases significantly . the increase reaches 35 ° c . for 20 mer in lower salt concentration , while a smaller increase is observed for 20 mer in higher salt concentration . this pronounced increase in t m cannot be observed for dna in presence of reduced dm . however , at lower salt concentration a slight increase in t m is observed . the difference in t m between dna in presence of oxidised versus reduced dm for all investigated conditions was found to be almost constant around 25 ° c . the optimal working temperature to be used in the electrochemical switch experiments was defined as being equal to the temperature where 100 % of the dna , in presence of reduced dm , was in a denatured state . the dashed lines in fig2 represent the optimal working temperatures . results are shown in the electroactivity of 100 μm dm , in absence of dna was investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry . the voltammogram in fig4 , obtained at 10 mv / s in room temperature , shows a semi - reversible compound with an oxidation potential e c =− 0 . 41 v and a reduction potential e a =− 0 . 61 v . in order to ensure complete oxidation and reduction of dm in the electrochemical switch experiments , − 0 . 8 v was chosen as reduction potential while + 0 . 3 v was chosen as oxidation potential . the redox - states of dm were then investigated spectrophotometrically using spectroelectrochemistry . fig4 depicts the spectrophotometric changes of dm upon cycling − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v five times at 58 ° c . when no potential is being applied ( t start , t work and t finish ) dm remains oxidised and characteristic peaks at 233 nm , 253 nm and 480 nm can be seen . upon reduction at − 0 . 8 v , characteristic reduction peaks appear at 262 nm and ˜ 435 nm . interestingly , a constant decrease in absorbance is observed at every reduction , whereas at 85 ° c . it is slightly increased again . upon re - oxidation at + 0 . 3 v , characteristic oxidation peaks re - appear . however , peaks are less pronounced and slightly shifted at 233 nm , 253 nm and ˜ 500 nm , which is not the case for re - oxidation at 85 ° c . fig5 shows the cyclic denaturation and hybridisation of 20 mer dna in the lower salt concentration ( 0 . 036 × ssc = 5 . 94 mm na + ) obtained with uv - vis spectroelectrochemistry . the redox - state of 100 μm dm was cycled five times in presence of excess dna at 200 μm ( molar ratio = 2 : 1 ) at 58 ° c . here , spectra were recorded for 25 ° c . and 58 ° c ., without applying a potential , to ensure that the dna is not being denatured at the chosen working temperature , followed by cycling − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v at 58 ° c . and recording spectra every 60 s . the spectra were recorded within 10 s to minimise uv - radiation time . the temperature was subsequently increased to 85 ° c . as an internal control , as here , 20 mer dna is expected to be denatured regardless of applied potential . − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v was cycled once and spectra were recorded after 60 s . to confirm that the dna was intact at the end of the cycling , the last scan was performed without applying a potential at 25 ° c . at no applied potential , two absorbance peaks are visible ; at 260 nm associated with dna and ˜ 506 nm associated with intercalated dm . upon applying − 0 . 8 v at 58 ° c ., a constant significant increase in a 260 nm for denatured dna and reduced dm is seen , together with a peak shift to ˜ 435 nm for reduced dm only . this absorbance increase is reversed upon applying + 0 . 3 v for hybridised dna and oxidised dm . furthermore , the peak ˜ 435 nm shifts back to ˜ 500 nm for oxidised dm only . as the working temperature is increased to 85 ° c . and − 0 . 8 v applied , dm reduces and the 20 mer dna is expected to be denatured . as can be seen , a 260 nm at 85 ° c . overlaps with a 260 nm obtained at 58 ° c . switching to + 0 . 3 v , dm re - oxidises . as mentioned earlier , dna is expected to stay denatured and thus a 260 nm is higher at 85 ° c . than at 58 ° c . moreover , the peak for oxidised dm has increased in absorbance and shifted back to 480 nm for free dm . in contrast , conducting the entire experiment at 25 ° c ., the 20 mer dna is expected to be hybridised regardless of applied potential . shows the observed increase in a 260 nm , upon applying − 0 . 8 v , which is considerably smaller compared to 58 ° c . fig6 shows that the investigated potentials of − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v do not affect and cause any changes to the 20 mer dna in absence of dm . denaturation is only observed as the temperature is increased to 85 ° c ., regardless of applied potential . the values at a 260 nm for each reduction and oxidation from fig5 and 7 are summarised in a switch - diagram in fig8 ( a ) . as can be seen , the increase in a 260 nm upon reduction of dm in absence of dna is significant , while none is observed for dna alone . fig8 ( b ) elucidates the difference in the switching of a 260 nm between dna in presence of dm and dm in absence of dna . a clear difference is observed at every reduction / oxidation cycle suggesting it arising from the denaturation of dna . the efficiency of the method was studied by increasing the length of the dna . an identical experimental setup was employed to investigate 40 mer dna at 0 . 036 × ssc , however , the experiment was conducted at 65 ° c . ( see fig2 . ( b )). fig9 ( a ) summarises a 260 nm obtained from dna in presence dm and dm in absence of dna , whereas fig9 ( b ) reveals the difference observed in the switching . as seen for the 20 mer dna , a consistent difference in absorbance is observed at every reduction / oxidation cycle for the 40 mer dna , hence , correspondingly suggesting it arising from the denaturation of dna . moreover , the efficiency of the method was also studied for the 20 mer in an increased salt concentration ( 0 . 1 × scc ( 16 . 5 na + )). fig2 shows the difference observed in switching at high salt concentration ( 0 . 1 × scc ), performed at 60 ° c . while the signal at a 260 nm obtained for 20 mer or 40 mer dna ( at 0 . 036 × ssc = 5 . 94 mm na + ). in presence of dm in fig8 and fig9 , respectively , shows the combined absorbance of the two types of molecules . similarly , the signal at a 260 nm obtained for 20 mer at 0 . 1 × scc ( 16 . 5 na + ) in presence of dm is shown in fig2 . fig1 ( a ) illustrates the observed a 260 nm values corrected with the mean a 260 nm ( n = 3 ) observed for dm in absence of dna , at given conditions . in fig1 ( a ) it is clearly observed that a 260 nm is increased upon reduction and decreased upon oxidation revealing dna denaturation and hybridisation of both the 20 mer and 40 mer dna in presence of dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ), at lower salt concentration ( 0 . 036 × ssc = 5 . 94 mm na + ). the hyperchromic shift for each reduction / oxidation cycle , represented in fig1 ( b ) , averages at ˜ 12 % for the 20 mer dna . although the reproducibility has suffered slightly , ˜ 17 % is obtained for the 40 mer dna . the hyperchromic shift , obtained with thermal denaturation / hybridisation ( table 1 ), is 20 . 6 % for the 20 mer dna and 24 . 6 % for the 40 mer dna , which corresponds to ˜ 55 % and ˜ 67 %, respectively , of the dna being electrochemically denatured and hybridised at given conditions . similarly , fig2 ( a ) shows that a 260 nm is increased upon reduction and decreased upon oxidation revealing dna denaturation and hybridisation of the 20 mer dna in presence of dm ( molar ratio 2 : 1 ), at higher salt concentration ( 0 . 1 × scc ( 16 . 5 na + )). fig2 ( b ) shows an average ˜ 18 % increase in the hyperchromic shift of the 20 mer at higher salt concentration 0 . 1 × scc ( 16 . 5 na + ), which corresponds to ˜ 80 % of the dna being electrochemically denatured and hybridised at the given conditions . the recorded currents during cycling dna denaturation and hybridisation are shown in fig1 for ( a ) 20 mer ; ( b ) 40 mer in 0 . 036 × ssc and ( c ) 20 mer in 0 . 1 × scc . for the three experimental conditions , it is evident that the oxidation current is smaller than the reduction current . furthermore , upon increasing the temperature , an increase in the current is observed , whereas only slight differences can be seen between the two different lengths of dna . electrochemical cycling of dna denaturation and hybridisation monitored with circular dichroism ( cd ) to corroborate results obtained with uv - vis spectroelectrochemistry , experiments were performed utilising cd spectroelectrochemistry to record dna denaturation and hybridisation upon cycling the redox - state of dm electrochemically . before switch experiments were conducted , the change in cd upon dna denaturation and hybridisation of 20 mer dna was investigated by endpoint - measurements at 25 ° c . and 85 ° c . fig1 ( a ) shows the cd spectra from 20 mer dna in absence of dm . at 25 ° c ., when hybridised , the dna displays strong positive cd signals at 220 nm and ˜ 275 nm , while a strong negative cd signal is obtained ˜ 250 nm . upon denaturation , at 85 ° c ., cd signals at 275 nm and 250 nm decrease . fig1 ( b ) shows the cd spectra from 20 mer dna in presence of oxidised dm at a molar ratio 2 : 1 . when hybridised , at 25 ° c ., strong positive cd signals at 215 nm and ˜ 275 nm are found . a dip is observed ˜ 250 nm while a strong negative cd signal is seen at 300 nm . upon denaturation , at 85 ° c ., cd signals at 215 nm , ˜ 275 nm and 300 nm decrease . due to the decrease in the cd signal at ˜ 275 nm upon denaturation , for dna in absence and presence of oxidised dm , this signal is monitored in the switch experiments . fig1 shows the cyclic denaturation and hybridisation of 20 mer dna in 0 . 036 × ssc ( i . e . 5 . 94 mm na + ) obtained with cd spectroelectrochemistry . identical experimental condition and workflow was employed here as for cyclic denaturation and hybridisation of 20 mer dna investigated with uv - vis spectroelectrochemistry ( fig5 ). the redox - state of dm was cycled five times at 58 ° c . upon cycling − 0 . 8 v and + 0 . 3 v , a consistent change at 275 nm and 300 nm is observed . as the working temperature was increased to 85 ° c . and the redox - potentials applied , the obtained spectra overlap with the ones obtained at 58 ° c . during dm reduction . the observed change at 275 nm is represented in a switch - diagram in fig1 along with two controls . a clear switching of the cd signal , upon cycling the reduction and oxidation potential , can be observed for the sample containing 20 mer dna in presence of dm . a similar consistent switching is not observed in samples omitting either dm or dna , thus suggesting that the observed switching at 275 nm for dna in presence of dm arises from dna denaturation and hybridisation . fig1 compares the recorded current between the switch experiment performed with cd spectroelectrochemistry and uv - vis spectroelectrochemistry where the former shows higher currents . fig1 shows a screening of the effect of various oxidised and chemically reduced ( with nabh 4 ) intercalators on the stability of dna . fluorescence - based melting curve analysis of 20 mer dna was conducted in the presence of ( a ) oxidised dm and ( b ) reduced dm ; ( c ) oxidised am and ( d ) reduced dm ; ( e ) oxidised 9ohe and ( f ) reduced 9ohe . an increasing melting temperature can be observed for dna in the presence of an oxidised form of intercalator , while a similar increase is not observed in the presence of reduced intercalator . the summarised effect on the melting temperature of dna , of the various intercalators , can be seen in fig1 for ( a ) dm , ( b ) am and ( c ) 9ohe . as observed , a larger difference in the melting temperature , between dna in the presence of oxidised versus reduced intercalators , is seen with increasing concentrations of the intercalator . a clearer visualisation of the difference can be observed in fig1 . it is evident that dm yields the largest difference . however , an almost equal difference is observed for am , while 9ohe yields the lowest difference . electrochemically cycled dna denaturation and hybridisation by cycling the redox - state of dm was first investigated using spectroelectrochemistry . here , uv - vis spectra was recorded while applying a reduction or oxidation potential (− 0 . 8 v /+ 0 . 3 v ). the strength in this technique lies in that the behaviour of dna and dm can be followed . denaturation and hybridisation of dna was followed at 260 nm , while dm intercalation was followed between 400 - 500 nm . as the reduction potential was applied , fig5 shows an increase at 260 nm and the appearance of a peak at ˜ 435 nm . the first peak is the combined absorbance from denatured dna and reduced dm while the second peak is the absorbance from reduced dm only . as the oxidation potential was applied , the peak at 260 nm decreased and the peak at ˜ 435 nm shifted back to ˜ 500 nm . likewise , the first peak is the combined absorbance from hybridised dna and oxidised dm while the second peak is the absorbance from intercalated oxidised dm . denaturation and hybridisation of dna was concluded from fig8 ( b ) , where it is evident that the change in absorbance upon switching the redox - state of dm alone is smaller than the switching obtained of dm in presence of dna . that is , the extra absorbance obtained when dm is in presence of dna must be from denatured dna , since denatured dna absorb more than hybridised dna . the state of the dna was equally determined by increasing the temperature of the experiment to 85 ° c . as stated before , at this temperature the dna is expected to be denatured regardless of the redox - state of dna , see the melting curves in fig2 . as the reduction potential was applied at 85 ° c ., see fig5 , the peak at 260 nm for dna and reduced dm reached a similar absorbance as when the reduction potential was applied at the working temperature ( i . e . 58 ° c ., 60 ° c . for 20 mer at 0 . 036 × scc or 0 . 1 × scc respectively or 65 ° c . for the 40 mer dna at 0 . 036 × scc ). additionally , as the oxidation potential was applied at 85 ° c ., the peak for oxidised dm appeared with an increased absorbance at 480 nm . in other words , since the dna is no longer hybridised , dm can no longer intercalate . thus , indicating that oxidised dm was indeed intercalated into hybridised dna at the working temperatures ( i . e . 58 , 60 or 65 ° c . ), since here the peak for oxidised dm appeared with less absorbance at ˜ 500 nm . similar behaviour was observed for experiments with 20 mer and 40 mer dna at lower salt concentration ( 0 . 036 × scc ( 5 . 9 mm na + )), see fig1 . however , the variability for 40 mer dna is larger than for 20 mer dna . it can be seen that the absorbance values obtained for denatured dna in presence of reduced dm are not as high for 40 mer dna as for 20 mer dna , whereas the absorbance values obtained for hybridised dna in presence of oxidised dm are not as low for 20 mer dna as for 40 mer dna . for the 20 mer at a higher salt concentration ( 0 . 1 × scc ( 16 . 5 mm na + )) there is low variability . the absorbance values in presence of reduced dm are not as high as those obtained for the 20 mer at low salt concentration but the absorbance values in the presence of oxidised dm are lower as those of the 20 mer at low salt concentration . since all three samples contain the same concentration of dna bp , the values should theoretically overlap . again , without wishing to be bound by theory , this difference may arise as it may be easier to hybridise longer dna and / or dna at a higher salt concentration , i . e . the strands are more likely to find each other hence resulting in lower absorbance values for the 40 mer dna and at a higher salt concentrations dsdna is more stabilised . equally , it may be easier to denature short dna since there are fewer base pairs that can contribute to stabilising forces in the double helix , hence resulting in higher absorbance values for 20 mer dna . the denaturation and hybridisation was furthermore confirmed with cd spectroelectrochemistry . fig1 shows a clear difference in the spectra obtained for hybridised dna upon the application of oxidation potential versus denatured dna upon the application of reduction potential . however , due to the nature of the experiment where a fast denaturation and hybridisation is required , the obtained cd spectra are very noisy . the cd spectra were collected at a high scan speed and low response time which sacrificed the resolution . therefore fig1 , which summarises the switch experiment of the 20 mer dna with the relevant controls , shows very noisy data . nevertheless , it can clearly be seen that a constant switching is only obtained for the sample with dna in presence of dm . to verify these results and obtain significance , the experiment needs to be repeated . while denaturation and hybridisation was confirmed with dm , fig1 suggests that other compounds which behave similarly to dm may be equally utilised for the electrochemical control of dna denaturation and hybridisation . these may be am and 9ohe . it can be concluded that both dna denaturation and hybridisation can be electrochemically controlled by cycling the redox - state of dm , and thereby circumventing the need for cycling temperature . this was first confirmed using a short 20 mer dna strand at a low salt concentration , where ˜ 55 % of the dna in solution was being denatured and hybridised in a cyclic mode . to investigate to effect of the length of the dna strand and the salt concentration , identical experiments were performed with a 40 mer dna strand at low salt concentration and a 20 mer dna strand at a higher salt concentration . here , ˜ 67 % and ˜ 80 % respectively , of the dna in solution was being electrochemically denatured and hybridised . the redox - state of dm was switched five times , corresponding to five cycles of dna denaturation and hybridisation obtained at 144 s / cycle was obtained in under 12 minutes , rendering this the application of this technique highly advantageous portable nucleic acid - based diagnostics , exploiting established nucleic acid amplification techniques . a total epcr reaction mixture of 175 μl included the following components : 0 . 2 μm forward primer 0 . 2 μm reverse primer 200 μm of each dntp 10 mm sodium - phosphate buffer ( ph 8 . 6 ) 1 . 2 mm mgcl 2 0 . 04 μm or 0 . 49 ng / μl of double stranded ndm template ( 40 bp ) 8 μm dm 1 . 25 u dynazyme i dna polymerase ( thermo scientfic ) prior to performing epcr , the screen - printed carbon electrode was activated in a mixture of 100 mm kcl and 50 mm pbs by applying + 1 . 7 v for 3 min . a hot plate had been calibrated to the working temperature of 75 ° c . a reaction well was next attached to the electrode , into which the epcr sample mixture was transferred . the well was properly sealed using a sticky aluminium lid , connected to a box connector and then placed on top of the hot plate . after allowing the sample mixture to equilibrate to the working temperature for 5 min , 20 consecutive cycles of the oxidation potential e ox =− 0 . 2 v and reduction potential e red =− 1 . 3 v were applied . the first cycle consisted of applying e ox and e red for 120 s each . subsequent cycles consisted of applying e ox and e red for 60 s each . the total experimental time was 45 min . after the applied potential cycles , the sample was recovered and dna amplicons were purified using the genejet pcr purification kit . purified samples were then analysed using capillary gel electrophoresis . the amplicons were sized in number of base pairs and quantified in total amount of dna . each epcr investigation included four sets of samples , which are explained in the list below : 1 . epcr : the epcr reaction mixture was prepared as above and amplification was conducted according to the measurement sequence explained above 2 . conventional pcr ( control ): the epcr reaction mixtures prepared as above and used for amplification in a conventional thermocycler using the standard sequence of three different temperatures to drive the reaction 3 . background ( control ): the epcr reaction mixture was prepared as above and immediately purified without undergoing any amplification reaction / measurement sequence 4 . no applied potential ( control ): the epcr reaction mixture and electrodes were prepared as above , however , no reduction / oxidation potentials were applied , the mixture was incubated at the working temperature for 45 min , which is equivalent to application of 20 cycles of the reduction / oxidation potential for each set of sample ( 1 - 4 ) in the list above , the sample reaction ( a ) was concurrently analysed with its own series of controls ( b - d ) as listed below : all experiments were performed on an autolab potentiostat from metrohm ( runcorn , uk ). all screen - printed electrodes were purchased from dropsens ( spain ) and consisted of a three - electrode setup with a carbon or platinum working electrode , platinum counter electrode and agcl reference electrode . purification of epcr samples were conducted using the genejet pcr purification kit ( thermo scientific , massachusetts , usa ). gel electrophoretic analysis was performed on the agilent 2100 bioanalyzer ( agilent technologies , santa clara , usa ). fig1 shows the results for the epcr performed on screen - printed carbon electrodes . a statistically significant difference is observed between the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ and the control lacking the polymerase and dm , thus , indicating that amplification of the 40 base pair long nmd target was amplified . epcr - based amplification was obtained by switching the redox - state of dm , through the application of 20 cycles of the reduction / oxidation potentials − 1 . 3 v /− 0 . 2 v , at the working temperature of 75 ° c . error bars represent standard error ( n = 3 ). p - values are calculated based on the two - tailed student &# 39 ; s t - test ( 95 % confidence interval ), where p & lt ; 0 . 05 shows a statistical difference . the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ which contained all components , contained more dna than the control lacking the polymerase and dm . to test if the amplification in the ‘ normal reaction ’ was significantly higher from the ‘ polymerase free ’ and ‘ dm free ’ control , the two - tailed student &# 39 ; s t - test was performed where a p - value below 0 . 05 showed that the tested samples were statistically significant different . this was indeed confirmed upon obtaining p & lt ; 0 . 05 . thus , evidence indicated that amplification had taken place in the ‘ normal reaction ’ and could specially be attributed to the presence of dm . furthermore , a significantly higher degree of amplification ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) was observed in the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ than in the control set where no potential was applied . this implied that the amplification observed in the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ only took place due to the redox - state switching of dm which electrochemically controlled the denaturation and hybridisation of dna . the observed epcr - based amplification in the ‘ normal reaction ’ was further substantiated by obtaining a significantly lower degree of amplification ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) in the background control samples . although , it should be noted that no significant difference was observed when the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ was compared to the background ‘ normal reaction ’, thus , suggesting variability in the background control samples . finally , considering that the epcr method has not been fully optimised , the epcr amplified dna reached acceptable levels when compared to the benchmark which is conventional pcr . fig2 shows the gel electrophoretic - based quantification of a 40 bp long dsdna , in the absence and presence of various dm concentrations , using the bioanalyzer . it was noted that increasing concentrations of dm decreased the ability of the bioanalyzer to correctly quantify the total amount of dna . specifically , the total amount of dna detected in the absence of dm was 600 ng . upon increasing amounts of dm , the total amount of detected dna decreased . this confirmed that dm , which is an intercalator , interfered with the intercalator based detection method used in the bioanalyzer . without wishing to be bound by theory it is suggested that the interference may result from quenching of fluorescence or through residual dm intercalation . the epcr method was optimised by including an additional step of surface - coating of the electrodes with bsa prior to the epcr experiment . in this procedure , screen - printed platinum electrodes from dropsens ( spain ) were used and the concentration of dna in all samples and controls was higher than in the non - optimised method of example 2 . the electrodes were not cleaned prior to the measurements . a hot plate had been calibrated to a working temperature of 75 ° c . a reaction well was next attached to the electrode , into which the epcr sample mixture was transferred . the well was properly sealed using a sticky aluminium lid , connected to a box connector and then placed on top of the hot plate . after attaching the well to the electrode , 133 μl of 0 . 5 μg / μl bsa for 5 min was added in order to coat the surfaces . the solution was removed with a pipette prior to adding the epcr mixture . after allowing the sample mixture to equilibrate to the working temperature for 5 min , 20 consecutive cycles of the oxidation potential e ox =− 0 . 2 v and reduction potential e red =− 1 . 3 v were applied . the first cycle consisted of applying e ox and e red for 120 s each . subsequent cycles consisted of applying e ox and e red for 60 s each . the total experimental time was 45 min . after the applied potential cycles , the sample was recovered and dna amplicons were purified using the genejet pcr purification kit . purified samples were then analysed using capillary gel electrophoresis . the amplicons were sized in number of base pairs and quantified in total amount of dna . a total epcr reaction mixture of 175 μl included the following components : 0 . 2 μm forward primer 0 . 2 μm reverse primer 200 μm of each dntp 10 mm sodium - phosphate buffer ( ph 8 . 6 ) 1 . 2 mm mgcl 2 0 . 04 μm or 0 . 49 ng / μl of double stranded ndm template ( 40 bp ) 8 μm dm 2 u dynazyme i dna polymerase ( thermo scientfic ) each epcr investigation included the same four sets of samples as example 2 ( a . normal reaction ; b . polymerase free ( control ); c . template free ( control ); d . daunomycin free ( control )). fig2 shows epcr performed on screen - printed platinum electrodes . a difference is observed between the epcr ‘ normal reaction ’ and the control lacking the polymerase and dm , thus , indicating that amplification of the 40 bp long nmd target was amplified . epcr - based amplification was obtained by switching the redox - state of dm , through the application of 20 cycles of the reduction / oxidation potentials − 1 . 3 v /− 0 . 2 v , at the working temperature of 75 ° c . the experiment was only performed once . a clear difference can be observed between epcr ‘ normal reaction ’, which contained all components , compared to the control lacking the polymerase and dm . the higher amount of dna in the ‘ normal reaction ’ is most likely an effect of bsa which has prevented dm or polymerase adsorption to the electrode surface . however , it should be noted that the method has only been carried out once so far , thus , no statistical analysis could be performed . unlike with the screen - 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