CdTe/ZnSe core/shell quantum dot (QD), one of the strongest and most highly luminescent nanoparticles, was directly synthesized in an aqueous medium to study its individual interactions with important nucleobases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) in detail. The results obtained from the optical analyses indicated that the interactions of the QDs with different nucleobases were different, which reflected in different fluorescent emission maxima and intensities. The difference in the interaction was found due to the different chemical behavior and different sizes of the formed nanoconjugates. An electrochemical study also confirmed that the purines and pyrimidines show different interactions with the core/shell QDs. Based on these phenomena, a novel QD-based method is developed to detect the presence of the DNA, damage to DNA, and mutation. The QDs were successfully applied very easily to detect any change in the sequence (mutation) of DNA. The QDs also showed their ability to detect DNAs directly from the extracts of human cancer (PC3) and normal (PNT1A) cells (detection limit of 500 pM of DNA), which indicates the possibilities to use this easy assay technique to confirm the presence of living organisms in extreme environments.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mendel University; Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Brno Czech Republic

Faculty of Chemistry Jagiellonian University Krakow Poland

Erratum v

Int J Nanomedicine. 2022 Apr 05;17:1609-1611. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S365644. PubMed

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Cao XD, Li CM, Bao HF, Bao QL, Dong H. Fabrication of strongly fluorescent quantum dot-polymer composite in aqueous solution. Chem Mater. 2007;19(15):3773–3779.

Wang XH, Du YM, Ding S, et al. Preparation and third-order optical nonlinearity of self-assembled chitosan/CdSe-ZnS core-shell quantum dots films. J Phys Chem B. 2006;110(4):1566–1570. PubMed

Qian HF, Dong CQ, Weng JF, Ren JC. Facile one-pot synthesis of luminescent, water-soluble, and biocompatible glutathione-coated CdTe nanocrystals. Small. 2006;2(6):747–751. PubMed

Heger Z, Cernei N, Krizkova S, et al. Paramagnetic nanoparticles as a platform for FRET-based sarcosine picomolar detection. Sci Rep. 2015;5:8868. PubMed PMC

Kudr J, Richtera L, Nejdl L, et al. Characterization of carbon dots covered with polyvinylpyrrolidone and polyethylene glycol. Int J Electrochem Sci. 2015;10(10):8243–8254.

Huang S, Qiu HN, Liu Y, et al. Molecular interaction investigation between three CdTe:Zn2+ quantum dots and human serum albumin: a comparative study. Colloid Surf B-Biointerfaces. 2015;136:955–962. PubMed

Kumar N, Wiraja C, Palanisamy K, Marsilia E, Xu C. Heat shock mediated labelling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with quantum dots. Colloid Surf B Biointerfaces. 2016;142:259–265. PubMed

Wang Y, Herron N. Nanometer-sized semiconductor clusters – Materials synthesis, quantum size effects, and photophysical properties. J Phys Chem. 1991;95(2):525–532.

Bang J, Yang H, Holloway PH. Enhanced and stable green emission of ZnO nanoparticles by surface segregation of Mg. Nanotechnology. 2006;17(4):973–978. PubMed

Nejdl L, Richtera L, Xhaxhiu K, et al. UV tuning of cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) – assessed by spectroscopy and electrochemistry. Int J Electrochem Sci. 2016;11(11):175–188.

Pei DF, Li YC, Huang QR, Ren Q, Li F, Shi TF. Quantum dots encapsulated glycopolymer vesicles: synthesis, lectin recognition and photoluminescent properties. Colloid Surf B Biointerfaces. 2015;127:130–136. PubMed

Kucur E, Bucking W, Giernoth R, Nann T. Determination of defect states in semiconductor nanocrystals by cyclic voltammetry. J Phys Chem B. 2005;109(43):20355–20360. PubMed

Tmejova K, Hynek D, Kopel P, et al. Structural effects and nanoparticle size are essential for quantum dots-metallothionein complex formation. Colloid Surf B Biointerfaces. 2015;134(1):262–272. PubMed

Tmejova K, Hynek D, Kopel P, et al. Study of metallothionein-quantum dots interactions. Colloid Surf B Biointerfaces. 2014;117(1):534–537. PubMed

Sapsford KE, Pons T, Medintz IL, Mattoussi H. Biosensing with luminescent semiconductor quantum dots. Sensors. 2006;6(8):925–953.

Sukhanova A, Devy M, Venteo L, et al. Biocompatible fluorescent nanocrystals for immunolabeling of membrane proteins and cells. Anal Biochem. 2004;324(1):60–67. PubMed

Dahan M, Levi S, Luccardini C, Rostaing P, Riveau B, Triller A. Diffusion dynamics of glycine receptors revealed by single-quantum dot tracking. Science. 2003;302(5644):442–445. PubMed

Heger Z, Cernei N, Blazkova I, et al. gamma-Fe2O3 nanoparticles covered with glutathione-modified quantum dots as a fluorescent nanotransporter. Chromatographia. 2014;77(21–22):1415–1423.

Allen PM, Bawendi MG. Ternary I-III-VI quantum dots luminescent in the red to near-infrared. J Am Chem Soc. 2008;130(29):9240–9241. PubMed PMC

Blackman B, Battaglia D, Peng XG. Bright and water-soluble near IR-emitting CdSe/CdTe/ZnSe Type-II/Type-I nanocrystals, tuning the efficiency and stability by growth. Chem Mater. 2008;20(15):4847–4853.

Dabbousi BO, RodriguezViejo J, Mikulec FV, et al. (CdSe)ZnS core-shell quantum dots: Synthesis and characterization of a size series of highly luminescent nanocrystallites. J Phys Chem B. 1997;101(46):9463–9475.

Du YP, Xu B, Fu T, et al. Near-infrared photoluminescent Ag2S quantum dots from a single source precursor. J Am Chem Soc. 2010;132(5):1470–1471. PubMed

Hewa-Kasakarage NN, Gurusinghe NP, Zamkov M. Blue-shifted emission in CdTe/ZnSe heterostructured nanocrystals. J Phys Chem C. 2009;113(11):4362–4368.

Mangolini L, Jurbergs D, Rogojina E, Kortshagen U. High efficiency photoluminescence from silicon nanocrystals prepared by plasma synthesis and organic surface passivation. In: Stutzmann M, editor. Physica Status Solidi C – Current Topics in Solid State Physics. Vol. 3975. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-V C H Verlag Gmbh; 2006. 3978 pp.

Shen S, Zhang Y, Peng L, Du Y, Wang Q. Matchstick-shaped Ag2S-ZnS heteronanostructures preserving both UV/blue and near-infrared photoluminescence. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2011;50(31):7115–7118. PubMed

Tsay JM, Pflughoefft M, Bentolila LA, Weiss S. Hybrid approach to the synthesis of highly luminescent CdTe/ZnS and CdHgTe/ZnS nanocrystals. J Am Chem Soc. 2004;126(7):1926–1927. PubMed

Zhang CL, Ji XH, Zhang Y, et al. One-pot synthesized aptamer-functionalized CdTe:Zn2+ quantum dots for tumor-targeted fluorescence imaging in vitro and in vivo. Anal Chem. 2013;85(12):5843–5849. PubMed

Erogbogbo F, Yong KT, Roy I, et al. In vivo targeted cancer imaging, sentinel lymph node mapping and multi-channel imaging with biocompatible silicon nanocrystals. ACS Nano. 2011;5(1):413–423. PubMed

Moulick A, Blazkova I, Milosavljevic V, et al. Application of CdTe/ZnSe quantum dots in in vitro imaging of chicken tissue and embryo. Photochem Photobiol. 2015;91(2):417–423. PubMed

Gaponik N, Talapin DV, Rogach AL, et al. Thiol-capping of CdTe nanocrystals: an alternative to organometallic synthetic routes. J Phys Chem B. 2002;106(29):7177–7185.

Wang SP, Mamedova N, Kotov NA, Chen W, Studer J. Antigen/antibody immunocomplex from CdTe nanoparticle bioconjugates. Nano Lett. 2002;2(8):817–822.

Wuister SF, Swart I, van Driel F, Hickey SG, Donega CD. Highly luminescent water-soluble CdTe quantum dots. Nano Lett. 2003;3(4):503–507.

Noh H, Goodman SM, Mohan P, Goodwin AP, Nagpal P, Cha JN. Direct conjugation of DNA to quantum dots for scalable assembly of photoactive thin films. RSC Adv. 2014;4(16):8064–8071.

Samanta A, Deng ZT, Liu Y. Infrared emitting quantum dots: DNA conjugation and DNA origami directed self-assembly. Nanoscale. 2014;6(9):4486–4490. PubMed

Onoshima D, Kaji N, Tokeshi M, Baba Y. Nuclease tolerant FRET probe based on DNA-quantum dot conjugation. Anal Sci. 2008;24(2):181–183. PubMed

Parak WJ, Gerion D, Zanchet D, et al. Conjugation of DNA to silanized colloidal semiconductor nanocrystalline quantum dots. Chem Mat. 2002;14(5):2113–2119.

Singh NP, McCoy MT, Tice RR, Schneider EL. A simple technique for quantitation of low levels of DNA damage in individual cells. Exp Cell Res. 1988;175(1):184–191. PubMed

Van Lanen SG, Oh TJ, Liu W, Wendt-Pienkowski E, Shen B. Characterization of the maduropeptin biosynthetic gene cluster from Actinomadura madurae ATCC 39144 supporting a unifying paradigm for enediyne biosynthesis. J Am Chem Soc. 2007;129(43):13082–13094. PubMed PMC

Long GL, Winefordner JD. Limit of detection. Anal Chem. 1983;55(7):A712–A724.

Nowak MJ, Lapinski L, Kwiatkowski JS, Leszczynski J. Molecular structure and infrared spectra of adenine. Experimental-matrix isolation and density functional theory study of adenine N-15 isotopomers. J Phys Chem. 1996;100(9):3527–3534.

Lopes RP, Marques MPM, Valero R, Tomkinson J, de Carvalho L. Guanine: a combined study using vibrational spectroscopy and theoretical methods. Spectr Int J. 2012;27(5–6):273–292.

Kwiatkowski JS, Leszczynski J. Molecular structure and vibrational IR spectra of cytosine and its thio and seleno analogues by density functional theory and conventional ab initio calculations. J Phys Chem. 1996;100(3):941–953.

Aida M, Kaneko M, Dupuis M, et al. Vibrational modes in thymine molecule from an ab initio MO calculation. Spectroc Acta Pt A-Molec Biomolec Spectr. 1997;53(3):393–407.

Kopel P, Travnicek Z, Zboril R, Marek J. Synthesis, X-ray and Mossbauer study of iron(II) complexes with trithiocyanuric acid (ttcH(3)). The X-ray structures of Fe(bpy)(3) (ttcH) center dot 2bpy center dot 7H(2)O and Fe(phen)(3) (ttcH(2))(ClO4) center dot 2CH(3) OH center dot 2H(2)O. Polyhedron. 2004;23(14):2193–2202.

Kopel P, Travnicek Z, Marek J, Korabik M, Mrozinski J. Syntheses and properties of binuclear copper(II) mixed-ligand complexes involving thiodiglycolic acid. The crystal structures of (phen)(2)Cu(mu-tdga) Cu(phen) (NO3)(2)center dot 5H(2)O and (H2O)(pmdien)Cu(mu-tdga) Cu(pmdien)(H2O) (ClO4)(2) Polyhedron. 2003;22(3):411–418.

Kopel P, Kamenicek J, Petricek V, Kurecka A, Kalinska B, Mrozinski J. Syntheses and study on nickel and copper complexes with 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid. Crystal and molecular structure of Cu3-(mdpta)(3)(btc) (ClO4)(3) center dot 4H(2)O. Polyhedron. 2007;26(3):535–542.

Zhu D, Liu J, Tang Y, Xing D. A reusable DNA biosensor for the detection of genetically modified organism using magnetic bead-based electrochemiluminescence. Sens Actuator B Chem. 2010;149(1):221–225.

Xia F, White RJ, Zuo XL, et al. An electrochemical supersandwich assay for sensitive and selective DNA detection in complex matrices. J Am Chem Soc. 2010;132(41):14346–14348. PubMed PMC

Won BY, Shin S, Fu R, Shin SC, Cho DY, Park HG. A one-step electrochemical method for DNA detection that utilizes a peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme amplified through PCR of target DNA. Biosens Bioelectron. 2011;30(1):73–77. PubMed

Feng XL, Xu QL, Liu LB, Wang S. A new light-harvesting conjugated polyelectrolyte microgel for DNA and enzyme detections. Langmuir. 2009;25(24):13737–13741. PubMed

Zhao YJ, Zhao XW, Tang BC, et al. Quantum-dot-tagged bioresponsive hydrogel suspension array for multiplex label-free DNA detection. Adv Funct Mater. 2010;20(6):976–982.

He Y, Su S, Xu TT, et al. Silicon nanowires-based highly-efficient SERS-active platform for ultrasensitive DNA detection. Nano Today. 2011;6(2):122–130.

Loo AH, Sofer Z, Bousa D, Ulbrich P, Bonanni A, Pumera M. Carboxylic carbon quantum dots as a fluorescent sensing platform for DNA detection. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016;8(3):1951–1957. PubMed

Wang X, Lou XH, Wang Y, et al. QDs-DNA nanosensor for the detection of hepatitis B virus DNA and the single-base mutants. Biosens Bioelectron. 2010;25(8):1934–1940. PubMed

Amo-Ochoa P, Miguel PJS, Castillo O, Sabat M, Lippert B, Zamora F. Interguanine hydrogen-bonding patterns in adducts with water and Zn-purine complexes (purine is 9-methyladenine and 9-methylguanine). Unexpected preference of Zn(II) for adenine-N7 over guanine-N7. J Biol Inorg Chem. 2007;12(4):543–555. PubMed

Garcia-Teran JP, Castillo O, Luque A, Garcia-Couceiro U, Roman P, Lloret F. One-dimensional oxalato-bridged Cu(II), Co(II), and Zn(II) complexes with purine and adenine as terminal ligands. Inorg Chem. 2004;43(18):5761–5770. PubMed

Mohapatra B, Verma S. Crystal engineering with modified 2-aminopurine and group 12 metal. Cryst Growth Des. 2013;13(7):2716–2721.

Shipman MA, Price C, Gibson AE, Elsegood MRJ, Clegg W, Houlton A. Monomer, dimer, tetramer, polymer: Structural diversity in zinc and cadmium complexes of chelate-tethered nucleobases. Chem Eur J. 2000;6(23):4371–4378. PubMed

Amo-Ochoa P, Castillo O, Miguel PJS, Zamora F. Unusual dimeric Zn(II)-cytosine complexes: New models of the interaction of Zn(II) with DNA and RNA. J Inorg Biochem. 2008;102(2):203–208. PubMed

Sponer J, Sabat M, Gorb L, Leszczynski J, Lippert B, Hobza P. The effect of metal binding to the N7 site of purine nucleotides on their structure, energy, and involvement in base pairing. J Phys Chem B. 2000;104(31):7535–7544.

Regulacio MD, Han MY. Composition-tunable alloyed semiconductor nanocrystals. Accounts Chem Res. 2010;43(5):621–630. PubMed

Kinkead B, Hegmann T. Effects of size, capping agent, and concentration of CdSe and CdTe quantum dots doped into a nematic liquid crystal on the optical and electro-optic properties of the final colloidal liquid crystal mixture. J Mater Chem. 2010;20(3):448–458.

Zinc-Based Nanomaterials for Diagnosis and Management of Plant Diseases: Ecological Safety and Future Prospects

CdSe QD Biosynthesis in Yeast Using Tryptone-Enriched Media and Their Conjugation with a Peptide Hecate for Bacterial Detection and Killing