A ZIF-8@DNAzyme-based DNA walker nanosystem for microRNAs sensing in living cells with high accuracy

作者：Liu, Birong; Sun, Mengxu; Li, Tong; Liang, Pengying; Zhou, Qianying; Guo, Mingqi; Li, Chunrong; Duan, Wen-Jun; Li, Min-Min; Chen, Jin-Xiang^*; Xie, Bao-Ping^*; Dai, Zong; Chen, Jun

来源：Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical , 2023, 387: 133812.

DOI：10.1016/j.snb.2023.133812

• DNAzyme-based DNA walker
• Live-cell miRNA imaging
• ZIF-8

It is a challenge to establish efficient, simplicity and precision miRNA imaging methods in living cells. Herein, we report a ZIF-8 @DNAzyme-based DNA walker strategy for intracellular miRNA imaging with high accuracy. Compared with traditional DNAzyme-based DNA walker, DNAzyme-based DNA walker can be effectively delivered into the cytoplasm by packaging in ZIF-8, thus ensuring the fidelity of intracellular miRNA imaging. In addition, ZIF-8 with acid-degrading properties can be degraded to generate cofactor Zn2+ in the acidic envi-ronment of tumors, achieving in the synchronous transport of DNAzyme-based DNA walker and metal ions. This strategy not only displays extremely low background signals in live-cell miRNA imaging, but also can distinguish the expression level of miRNA between tumor cells and normal cells, showing great potential in disease diag-nosis. We believe this strategy can further promote the application of DNA-based motors in live-cell miRNA imaging, and provide new ideas for the joint application of MOFs and nucleic acid detection.

• 单位
  中山大学; 南方医科大学; 1