Terahertz spectroscopy of oligonucleotides in aqueous solutions.

Mingjie Tang; Qing Huang; Dongshan Wei; Guozhong Zhao; Tianying Chang; Kuan Kou; Min Wang; Chunlei Du; Wei-ling Fu; Hong-Liang Cui

A terahertz (THz) spectroscopic study is carried out to analyze DNA mutations in a label-free manner. Three newly designed liquid sample cells are considered and the best is selected as the sample carrier for THz transmission spectroscopic analyses. Discrimination based on spectral signatures of single-base mutations on single-stranded 20 nt oligonucleotides has been shown possible experimentally. The results clearly attest the ability of this promising approach for label-free analyses of single-base mutations of DNA molecules. This study has demonstrated that the THz spectroscopic technology can be considered as a potential diagnostic tool for investigating molecular reactions, such as DNA mutations.

OLIGONUCLEOTIDES; TERAHERTZ spectroscopy; ABSORPTION coefficients; GENETIC mutation; CELLS

Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2015, Vol 20, Issue 9, p095009-1

1083-3668

Academic Journal

10.1117/1.JBO.20.9.095009