Hybridization assay of insect antifreezing protein gene by novel multilayered porous silicon nucleic acid biosensor

Abstract A fabrication of a novel simple porous silicon polybasic photonic crystal with symmetrical structure has been reported as a nucleic acid biosensor for detecting antifreeze protein gene in insects ( Microdera puntipennis dzhungarica ), which would be helpful in the development of some new transgenic plants with tolerance of freezing stress. Compared to various porous silicon-based photonic configurations, porous silicon polytype layered structure is quite easy to prepare and shows more stability; moreover, polybasic photonic crystals with symmetrical structure exhibit interesting optical properties with a sharp resonance in the reflectance spectrum, giving a higher Q factor which causes higher sensitivity for sensing performance. In this experiment, DNA oligonucleotides were immobilized into the porous silicon pores using a standard crosslink chemistry method. The porous silicon polybasic symmetrical structure sensor possesses high specificity in performing controlled experiments with non-complementary DNA. The detection limit was found to be 21.3 nM for DNA oligonucleotides. The fabricated multilayered porous silicon-based DNA biosensor has potential commercial applications in clinical chemistry for determination of an antifreeze protein gene or other genes.