We report that the hydrogen-bonding pattern in a molecular beacon can be replaced by metal-dependent pairs of Hg(2+) and DNA thymine (T) bases. A molecular beacon based on T-Hg(2+)-T exhibits a lower background signal and higher thermostability than regular molecular beacons.
State Key Lab of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Biomedical Engineering Center, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsa, 410082, China. Yangrh@pku.edu.cn
