Multicolour hybrid nanoprobes of molecular beacon conjugated quantum dots: FRET and gel electrophoresis assisted target DNA detection

Abstract

We have developed multicolour hybrid DNA probes employing green, yellow and orange colour quantum dot conjugated molecular beacons with black hole quencher 2. Optical and electrophoretic characterization revealed fluorescent energy transfer that follows the FRET mechanism with single nucleotide discrimination. Target DNA identification was observed to be highly sensitive up to 8 ng in gel electrophoresis. Comparison with the conventional organic dye SYBR Gold™ showed that our hybrid nanoprobes exhibit more stable performance with less background signal.