Fluorescent detection of ATP based on signaling DNA aptamer attached silica nanoparticles

Novel methods for rapid, sensitive and low-cost biomolecule detection have attracted particular interest because of their wide use in medical diagnostics, food inspection and biomedical research applications. In this work, we report a simple and efficient silica nanoparticle (NP)-based fluorescent assay for ATP detection. It takes advantage of the washing and separation properties of NPs and the structure-switch property of DNA aptamers, resulting in fluorescence change of the supernatant in the presence of targets. A linear response for ATP detection was observed from 0 to 6 mM with a detection limit of ∼34 µM. This detection strategy could be generalized to other aptamer-based detection systems.