Fluorescent Detection of Specific DNA Sequences Related to Toxoplasma gondii Based on Magnetic Fluorescent Nanoparticles Fe3O4/CdTe Biosensor

Magnetic fluorescent nanoparticles (Fe3O4/CdTe) were prepared in this work and applied for Toxoplasma gondii DNA detection. First, CdTe quantum dots were synthesized with 3-mercaptopropionic (MPA) capped. Fe3O4 magnetic particles were prepared by hydrothermal method with NaOH as precipitator, and they were surfacely modified with silane coupling agent (KH550). After then, the MPA-capped CdTe QDs were immobilized on the Fe3O4 particles surface via electrostatic interaction, and the Fe3O4/CdTe particles were prepared with the average size of 10 nm. The DNA sensing probe was fabricated through labeling a stem-loop Toxoplasma gondii DNA oligonucleotides with Fe3O4/CdTe (donor) at the 5′ end and BHQ2 (acceptor) at 3′ end, respectively. The assembly prosess was verified by UV-Vis, TEM, IR, XRD etc. The sensitivity characterization of the molecular beacon probe was performed by fluorescence spectrum (FS) with a detection limit of 8.339x10-9M. This chemical strategy can be further applied to prepare the magnetic nanoparticles for DNA detection.