Abstract
The two DNA conjugates (split probes) carrying a metal chelator form an integrated luminous lanthanide (Ln3+: Tb3+ or Eu3+) complex on the complementary template DNA (target). The luminous property of this Ln3+ complex has been used for DNA assay. The intensity of the luminescence was affected by the local structural disruption caused by one-base mispairing around the complex. Among the mispairings systematically introduced around the Ln3+ center, vicinal mispairings to the center decreased the emission intensity more. This would be a novel nucleobase-discriminating principle, in which the split probes bind the target tightly, yet still retain sequence selectivity.
