Amperometric Detection of DNA by Electroreducation of O2 in an Enzyme-Amplified Two-Component Assay

The two-component type enzyme amplified amperometric DNA assay is described to use an ambient $O_2$ of the substrate of the DNA labeling enzyme. Although the assay detects DNA only at > 0.5M concentration, a concentration $\~10^6$ fold higher than the sandwich-type enzyme amplified amperometric DNA assay, it can be run with an always available substrate. The assay utilizes screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPEs) which were pre-coated by a co-electrodeposited film of an electron conducting redox hydrogel and a 37-base long single-stranded DNA sequence. The DNA in the electron conducting film hybridizes and captures, when present, the 37-base long detection-DNA, which is labeled with bilirubin oxidase (BOD), an enzyme catalyzing the four-electron reduction of $O_2$ to water. Because the redox hydrogel electrically connects the BOD reaction centers to the electrode, completion of the sandwich converts the film from non-electrocatalytic to electrocatalytic for the reduction of $O_2$ to water when the electrode is poised at 200 mV vs. Ag/hgCl. The advantage or the assay over the earlier reported sandwich type enzyme amplified amperometric DNA assay, in which the amplifying enzyme was horseradish peroxidase, is that it utilizes ambient $O_2$ instead of the less stable and naturally unavailable $H_2O_2$.