Cationic-perylene-G-quadruplex complex based fluorescent biosensor for label-free detection of Pb 2+

In this work we use a water-soluble cationic perylene derivative (compound 1) as the G-quadruplex (G4) structure fluorescence indicator to construct a fluorescent biosensor for simple, rapid and label-free detection of Pb(2+). In the absence of Pb(2+), strong electrostatic interactions between compound 1 and the G-rich DNA probe (PW17) induced the aggregation of compound 1 and resulted in the fluorescence quenching. In the presence of Pb(2+), the PW17 formed Pb(2+)-stabilized G4 structure, which reduced the aggregation of compound 1 and gave rise to high fluorescence. This allowed us to use convenient "mix-and-detect" protocol for quantitative analysis of Pb(2+). Since Pb(2+) can specially induce PW17 to form compact DNA fold, our proposed biosensor displayed high selectivity for Pb(2+). It also exhibited a high sensitivity to Pb(2+), with a limit of detection of 5.0nM observed. Furthermore, the biosensor was applied for the detection of Pb(2+) in urine and paint samples, and both showed satisfactory results.