Self-driven and self-catalytic tripedal DNA nanomachine for rapid and sensitive detection of miR-21 in in colorectal cancer

A self-driven and self-catalytic (SDSC) tripedal DNA nanomachine was developed for microRNA-21 (miR-21) detection. The microRNA could open one arm of tripedal DNA nanomachine to form DNAzyme with a nearby arm through the proximity effect. After DNAzyme's cleavage, the exposed DNA arm region competed with the third arm and produced a DNA segment (sequence Q). The released sequence Q initiated the next SDSC cycle of tripedal DNA nanomachine. In the special DNA nanomachines design, the components with close spatial localization were constructed on a single nanostructure, which significantly increased local reactant concentrations and reaction rates. A dynamic correlation was obtained from 10 pM to 50 nM between fluorescence signal and miR-21 concentration. The effective concentration of reactant greatly increased, compared with the free diffusible reactants. Consequently, the incubation time was significantly shorted to 35 min. This strategy showed a promising potential in miRNA detection and disease diagnosis.