Electrical detection of DNA hybridization: three extraction techniques based on interdigitated Al/Al2O3 capacitors.

Based on interdigitated aluminum electrodes covered with Al(2)O(3) and silver precipitation via biotin-antibody coupled gold nano-labels as signal enhancement, three complementary electrical methods were used and compared to detect the hybridization of target DNA for concentrations down to the 50 pM of a PCR product from cytochrome P450 2b2 gene. Human hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes participate in detoxification metabolism of xenobiotics. Therefore, determination of mutational status of P450 gene in a patient could have a significant impact on the choice of a medical treatment. Our three electrical extraction procedures are performed on the same interdigitated capacitive sensor lying on a passivated silicon substrate and consist in the measurement of respectively the low-frequency inter-electrodes capacitance, the high-frequency self-resonance frequency, and the equivalent MOS capacitance between the short-circuited electrodes and the backside metallization of the silicon substrate. This study is the first of its kind as it opens the way for correlation studies and noise reduction techniques based on multiple electrical measurements of the same DNA hybridization event with a single sensor.

Comparison of DNA detection methods using nanoparticles and silver enhancement.

DNA microarrays are an emerging technology for the parallel detection of DNA molecules. Fluorescent molecules are the current standard for a DNA array's optical readout but they possess some drawbacks including the stability of the dyes and the cost of the scanners. Therefore alternative labelling strategies are of considerable interests. One such strategy is the use of nanoparticles which offers several advantages in terms of stability and versatility of the detection mode. The authors present a review on the different ways DNA can be detected, mainly onto a solid support, using nanoparticle labels.