DNA quantification via ICP-MS using lanthanide-labeled probes and ligation-mediated amplification

Abstract

The combination of lanthanide-tagged oligonucleotide probes with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as the detection technique is a novel labeling and analysis strategy for heterogeneous nucleic acid quantification assays. We describe a hybridization assay based on biotin-streptavidin affinity using lanthanide-labeled reporter probes and biotinylated capture probes. For the basic sandwich type assay, performed in streptavidin-coated microtitration wells, the limit of detection (LOD) was 7.2 fmol of DNA target, corresponding to a final concentration of 6 pM terbium-labeled probes detectable by ICP-MS after elution from the solid support. To improve the sensitivity and sequence specificity of the approach, it was combined with established molecular biological techniques, i.e., elution with a restriction endonuclease and signal and target amplification by the ligase detection reaction (LDR) and ligase chain reaction (LCR), respectively. Initial experiments showed that the enzymes facilitated the discrimination of single-base mismatches within the recognition or ligation site. Furthermore, LCR as a target amplification step resulted in a 6000-fold increase of sensitivity, and finally an LOD of 2.6 amol was achieved with an artificial double-stranded DNA target.