Positively charged polymer brush-functionalized filter paper for DNA sequence determination following Dot blot hybridization employing a pyrrolidinyl peptide nucleic acid probe

As inspired by the Dot blot analysis, a well known technique in molecular biology and genetics for detecting biomolecules, a new paper-based platform for colorimetric detection of specific DNA sequences employing peptide nucleic acid (PNA) as a probe has been developed. In this particular study, a pyrrolidinyl PNA bearing a conformationally rigid D-prolyl-2-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid backbone (acpcPNA) was used as a probe. The filter paper was modified to be positively charged with grafted polymer brushes of quaternized poly(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (QPDMAEMA) prepared by surface-initiated polymerization of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate from the filter paper via ARGET ATRP followed by quaternization with methyl iodide. Following the Dot blot format, a DNA target was first immobilized via electrostatic interactions between the positive charges of the QPDMAEMA brushes and negative charges of the phosphate backbone of DNA. Upon hybridization with the biotinylated pyrrolidinyl peptide nucleic acid (b-PNA) probe, the immobilized DNA can be detected by naked eye observation of the yellow product generated by the enzymatic reaction employing HRP-labeled streptavidin. It has been demonstrated that this newly developed assay was capable of discriminating between complementary and single base mismatch targets at a detection limit of at least 10 fmol. In addition, the QPDMAEMA-grafted filter paper exhibited a superior performance to the commercial membranes, namely Nylon 66 and nitrocellulose.