It is highly desirable to develop a facile approach for the detection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). To address this need, an octopus-like DNA (OLD) is designed in a one-pot method by direct folding of nine short single strands of DNA (ssDNA), which can be used to capture all the conserved HIV-1 gene efficiently though the sticky arms. The branched OLD was applied for the enzyme-free detection of HIV-1 nucleic acid and the visualization of the virus during HIV infection. The total detection procedure can be finished within 2 h with high specificity, making the OLD system a valuable tool for the rapid detection of HIV virus and further biomedical application.
Keywords: Branched DNA; Enzyme-free; HIV detection.
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