Development of Point of Care Testing for Infectious Diseases Based on DNA Walkers with Precisely Designed Nanoparticles

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H02589
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 28050:Nano/micro-systems-related
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Oishi Motoi 筑波大学, 数理物質系, 准教授 (90419242)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 金ナノ粒子 / ナノ界面 / DNA ナノマシン / 診断 / 感染症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to precisely prepare DNA/PEGylated gold nanoparticles in which polyethylene glycol (PEG) and DNA are co-immobilized by the "nano-interface construction method" originally developed by me and to construct DNA walkers in which target nucleic acids move only at the interface in the same particle via DNA strand exchange reaction, and that can detect nucleic acids of infectious origin. In this study, I established a long-term storage method for DNA/PEGylated gold nanoparticles, which is the key to this research, and prepared DNA/PEGylated gold nanoparticles with various interface structures to clarify the correlation between the interface structure and DNA walking. In addition, optimized DNA walkers were used to detect target nucleic acids.

Free Research Field

ナノバイオサイエンス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、様々な分野で用いられているDNA化金ナノ粒子（DNA/PEG化金ナノ粒子を含む）の長期保存法を初めて確立した。これにより、ナノ診断およびナノバイオテクノロジーの分野におけるDNA化金ナノ粒子の応用が今まで以上に展開されると思われる。また、本研究では、DNA/PEG化金ナノ粒子の界面構造（特にDNA密度）とDNAウォーキングの相関、および標的核酸の検出能の相関を明らかにすることができた。これにより、今後、感染症を迅速かつ高感度で「その場」診断できるシステムの開発が可能となると思われる。