Enzymatic manipulations of DNA oligonucleotides on microgel: towards development of DNA–microgel bioassays

We demonstrate that DNA oligonucleotides covalently coupled to colloidal microgel can be manipulated by T4 DNA ligase for DNA ligation and by Phi29 DNA polymerase for rolling circle amplification (RCA). We also show that the long single-stranded RCA product can generate intensive fluorescence upon hybridization with complementary fluorescent DNA probe. We believe DNA–microgel conjugates can be explored for the development of DNA based bioassays and biosensors.