The use of
hemoglobin (Hb) to drive atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) process (Hb-ATRP) for detection of
lung cancer related
nucleic acid is firstly reported. Hb does not need to be treated prior to using indicating the potential for synthetic engineering in complex
biological microenvironments without the need for in vitro techniques. Here, we report a new signal amplification strategy using Hb-mediated graft of nitronyl niroxide monoradical
polymers as a signal-on electrochemical biosensor for ultralow level
DNA highly selective detection. Building
DNA biosensors includes: (i) the fixation of
peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe (no
phosphate group) via the 5' terminus-SH; (ii) the modification of transition
metal; (iii) Site-specific markers of Hb-ATRP promoter, and (iv) the grafting of
polymers with electrochemical signal by Hb-ATRP process. Through the Hb-ATRP process of
nitronyl nitroxide monoradical (
TEMPO), the presence of a small amount of
DNA can eventually result in calling a certain number of
TEMPO redox tags. Obviously, the Hb-ATRP is a method of easy source of raw materials, simple operation and no need for complex equipment. The constructed biosensor, as expected, is highly selective and sensitive to target
DNA. The detection limit can be calculated as 15.96 fM under optimal conditions. The excellent performance also shows that the constructed
DNA biosensor is suitable for
DNA screening and
DNA concentration determination in complex sample matrix.