Efficient Editing of Silver Nanoclusters by Changing Simply One Cytosine in a DNA Template

DNA with genetic information was edited to regulate and repair the structure and function of a protein. In DNA nanotechnology, DNA with programmable information can be designed to edit the fluorescence intensity and emissive colors of DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs). By introducing and moving one cytosine in the spacer of the emitter domain, we have built up a simple strategy to regulate the excitation and emission wavelengths of AgNCs. When replacing thymine in the spacer of the emitter with one cytosine, the expected excitation and emission change do not occur. However, after moving the introduced cytosine, DNA templates produce AgNCs with extremely different excitation and emission wavelengths from those of the initial template, leading to a template for near-infrared (NIR) emissive species with the highest fluorescence intensity. The formation of AgNCs induces the DNA template into condensed secondary structure based on an altered migration rate in PAGE. The simple strategy of moving one cytosine in a spacer in the emitter domain can enrich the library of templates for synthesizing diverse DNA/AgNCs and has great potential in bioimaging and probe design.

Automated summary

This study explores the editing of DNA to regulate and repair protein structure and function. By introducing and moving cytosine, a simple strategy is proposed to modulate the excitation and emission wavelengths of DNA/AgNCs, resulting in nanoclusters with different fluorescence intensity and emissive colors. Ultimately, this research has potential applications in bioimaging and probe design through the manipulation of cytosines in DNA sequences.