Luminescent Carbon Dot Mimics Assembled on DNA.

Nanometer-sized fragments of carbon in the form of multilayer graphene ("carbon dots") have been under highly active study for applications in imaging. While offering advantages of low toxicity and photostability, such nanomaterials are inhomogeneous and have limited wavelengths of emission. Here we address these issues by assembling luminescent aromatic C16-C38 hydrocarbons together on a DNA scaffold in homogeneous, soluble molecular compounds.

DNA as an environmental sensor: detection and identification of pesticide contaminants in water with fluorescent nucleobases.

Environmental contaminants pose a substantial health risk in many areas of the world. One of these risks is contamination of water with toxic organic species, such as herbicides and insecticides. Here we describe the discovery and properties of a set of fluorescent chemosensors that respond to micromolar concentrations of a broad range of common organic pesticides.

Correction: Pattern-based detection of anion pollutants in water with DNA polyfluorophores.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C4SC03992K.].

Pattern-Based Detection of Anion Pollutants in Water with DNA Polyfluorophores.

Many existing irrigation, industrial and chemical storage sites are currently introducing hazardous anions into groundwater, making the monitoring of such sites a high priority. Detecting and quantifying anions in water samples typically requires complex instrumentation, adding cost and delaying analysis. Here we address these challenges by development of an optical molecular method to detect and discriminate a broad range of anionic contaminants with DNA-based fluorescent sensors.

DNA-polyfluorophore Chemosensors for Environmental Remediation: Vapor-phase Identification of Petroleum Products in Contaminated Soil.

Contamination of soil and groundwater by petroleum-based products is an extremely widespread and important environmental problem. Here we have tested a simple optical approach for detecting and identifying such industrial contaminants in soil samples, using a set of fluorescent DNA-based chemosensors in pattern-based sensing. We used a set of diverse industrial volatile chemicals to screen and identify a set of five short oligomeric DNA fluorophores on PEG-polystyrene microbeads that could differentiate the entire set after exposure to their vapors in air.

Mycobacterial cytochrome p450 125 (cyp125) catalyzes the terminal hydroxylation of c27 steroids.

Cyp125 (Rv3545c), a cytochrome P450, is encoded as part of the cholesterol degradation gene cluster conserved among members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. This enzyme has been implicated in mycobacterial pathogenesis, and a homologue initiates cholesterol catabolism in the soil actinomycete Rhodococcus jostii RHA1. In Mycobacterium bovis BCG, cyp125 was up-regulated 7.