Specific interactions between silver(i) ions and cytosine–cytosine pairs in DNA duplexes

Very specific binding of the Ag(I) ion unexpectedly stabilized DNA duplexes containing the naturally occurring cytosine–cytosine (C–C) mismatch-base pair; because the C–C pair selectively binds to the Ag(I) ion, we developed a DNA-based Ag(I) sensor that employed an oligodeoxyribonucleotide containing C–C pairs used for Ag(I) binding sites.