AVS 50th International Symposium
    Homeland Security Topical Conference Wednesday Sessions
       Session HS-WeP

Paper HS-WeP8
Detection of Nucleic Acid Hybridization by Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 11:00 am, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session on Science & Technology for Homeland Security
Presenter: K. Miyamoto, Tohoku University, Japan
Authors: K. Miyamoto, Tohoku University, Japan
Y. Kimura, Tohoku University, Japan
H. Ishii, Tohoku University, Japan
M. Niwano, Tohoku University, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
Biotechnology and medical diagnostics are currently in need of devices able to quickly and selectively detect biological molecules. DNA chip technology has gained considerable interest because of its importance to disease diagnostics, mutation detection, gene discovery, and so on. DNA chips facilitate the detection of specific DNA fragments (target DNA) by hybridization with a complementary strand (probe DNA). In conventional DNA chips, probe DNA that is immobilized on a solid substrate such as glass, are hybridized with fluorescently-labeled target probes, and the hybridization is measured with a laser scanner. However, if hybridization were in-situ monitored by spectroscopic tools, fluorescent label would be unnecessary. We propose an alternative method of monitoring hybridization of nucleic acids using infrared absorption spectroscopy in the multiple internal reflection geometry (MIR-IRAS). Since hydrogen bonding plays an important role in the hybridization of nucleic acids, we have investigated how hybridization induces spectral changes in the C=O and N-H stretching vibration regions of DNA. Results of ab-initio calculations demonstrate that changes in vibration frequency of the C=O stretching and N-H scissors modes are induced due to the base pairing of Guanine and Cytosine. We show the possibility of high-sensitive detection of DNA hybridization using MIR-IRAS.