Exonuclease III-Assisted Target Recycling Amplification Coupled with Liposome-Assisted Amplification: One-Step and Dual-Amplification Strategy for Highly Sensitive Fluorescence Detection of DNA

Detection of ultralow concentration of specific DNA sequence is a central challenge in the early diagnosis of gene-related disease and biodefense application. Herein, we report a dual-amplification strategy for highly sensitive fluorescence detection of DNA. In this proposed strategy, a dumbbell-shaped DNA probe is designed to integrate target binding, magnetic separation, and signal response. In the presence of specific DNA target, the multifunctional dumbbell probe can initiate exonuclease III (Exo III)-aided target recycling amplification, and, in the meantime, generate a large number of fluorescein (FAM)-encapsulated liposomes. The developed method offers very high sensitivity due to primary amplification via numerous FAM from a liposome and secondary amplification via target recycling amplification. The detection limit of the proposed method can reach 4 aM, which is much lower than that of the Exo III-aided target recycling technique applied for DNA quantification without FAM-encapsulated liposomes amplification. Moreover, the dual-signal amplification process can be completed one-step in this system. Therefore, this method provides a simple, isothermal, and low-cost approach for sensitive detection of DNA and holds a great potential for early diagnosis in gene-related diseases.