A Controlled Transcription-Driven Light-Up Aptamer Amplification for Nucleoside Triphosphate Detection

In this study, we introduced a simple method for detecting nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs) using controlled transcription-driven light-up aptamer amplification. Based on the concentration of target NTP, the light-up aptamer was amplified using a DNA template encoding the Broccoli aptamer sequence through an incomplete transcription mixture (without each NTP). The Broccoli aptamer associated with DFHBI-1T produced significantly enhanced fluorescence signals that could sensitively detect NTPs in a label-free manner. In addition, the proposed assay was useful for quantitatively detecting NTPs in serum. Thus, we expect that this method has great potential for NTP analysis in bioassays and biological researches.