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Facile detection of melamine by a FAM–aptamer–G-quadruplex construct

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Abstract

The development of a novel method for melamine detection that uses a FAM–aptamer–G-quadruplex construct due to the efficient quenching ability of an aptamer-linked G-quadruplex is reported herein. The construct, which is labeled with the fluorescent dye 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM), consists of two parts: a melamine-binding aptamer and a G-rich sequence that can form a G-quadruplex structure. Because of the specific recognition of melamine by the T-rich aptamer, this aptamer folds into a hairpin structure in the presence of melamine, which draws the G-quadruplex closer to the FAM fluorophore, leading to the quenching of the fluorescence of FAM. Thus, a highly sensitive and selective fluorescence strategy for assaying melamine was established. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescence quenching is proportional to the concentration of melamine within the range 10–90 nM, and the method has a detection limit of 6.32 nM. Further application of the method to plastic cup samples suggested that it permitted recoveries of between 97.15% ± 1.02 and 101.92% ± 2.07. The detected amounts of melamine spiked into the plastic cup samples and the corresponding amounts measured by HPLC were in good accordance, indicating that this fluorescent method is reliable and practical. Owing to its high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, and convenient procedure, this strategy represents a promising alternative method of melamine screening.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31571919), and the Modern Agriculture Project of the Jilin Province-University Coconstruction Scheme (no. SF2017-6-4).

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  1. Ruifang Su and Hongru Zheng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, Jilin, China

    Ruifang Su, Shuyue Dong, Rui Sun, Shangna Qiao, Hongjing Sun, Xinyue Ma, Tiehua Zhang & Chunyan Sun

  2. Jilin Province Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute, Changchun, 130103, Jilin, China

    Hongru Zheng

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  1. Ruifang Su
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Su, R., Zheng, H., Dong, S. et al. Facile detection of melamine by a FAM–aptamer–G-quadruplex construct. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 2521–2530 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01688-3

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