Thymine-based molecular beacon for sensing adenosine based on the inhibition of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase activity.

This study presents a thymine (T)-based molecular beacon (MB) used for probing S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH)-catalyzed hydrolysis of S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and for sensing adenosine based on the inhibition of SAHH activity. The designed MB (T8-MB-T8) contained a 15-mer loop and a stem that consisted of a pair of 8-mer T bases, a fluorophore unit at the 5'-end, and a quencher unit at the 3'-end. In the presence of Hg(2+), a change in the conformation of T8-MB-T8 placed the fluorophore unit and the quencher in proximity to each other and caused collisional quenching of fluorescence between them.

Excitation-dependent visible fluorescence in decameric nanoparticles with monoacylglycerol cluster chromophores.

Organic fluorescent nanoparticles, excitation-dependent photoluminescence, hydrogen-bonded clusters and lysobisphosphatidic acid are four interesting individual topics in materials and biological sciences. They have attracted much attention not only because of their unique properties and important applications, but also because the nature of their intriguing phenomena remained unclear. Here we report a new type of organic fluorescent nanoparticles with intense blue and excitation-dependent visible fluorescence in the range of 410-620 nm.