Room-temperature single-nucleotide polymorphism and multiallele DNA detection using fluorescent nanocrystals and microarrays

We report two cDNA microarray-based applications of DNA-nanocrystal conjugates, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and multiallele detections, using a commercial scanner and two sets of nanocrystals with orthogonal emissions. We focus on SNP mutation detection in the human p53 tumor suppressor gene, which has been found to be mutated in more than 50% of the known human cancers. DNA-nanocrystal conjugates are able to detect both SNP and single-base deletion at room temperature within minutes, with true-to-false signal ratios above 10. We also demonstrate microarray-based multiallele detection, using hybridization of multicolor nanocrystals conjugated to two sequences specific for the hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus, two common viral pathogens that inflict more than 10% of the population in the developing countries worldwide. The simultaneous detection of multiple genetic markers with microarrays and DNA-nanocrystal conjugates has no precedent and suggests the possibility of detecting an even greater number of bacterial or viral pathogens simultaneously.