Date of Graduation
Fall 12-14-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Chemistry
College/School
College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program
Chemistry
First Advisor
Ryan M. West
Second Advisor
Janet Yang
Third Advisor
Lawrence D. Margerum
Abstract
In this thesis, we demonstrate an electrochemical approach for monitoring the electric-field induced melting of surface-bound double-stranded DNA. The electrochemical routine involves repeated chronoamperometry pulses to melt the duplex and square wave voltammetry to monitor the extent of melting. We utilize a scanning potential and constant potential technique to generate melting curves and access the stability and kinetics of the DNA duplexes. Our method uses a mixed monolayer of thiol-modified DNA oligomers and mercaptohexanol on gold electrodes, are subsequently incubated with target DNA covalently modified with electroactive methylene blue. Under room temperature, 10 mM Tris, and optimized electrochemical parameters, DNA duplexes are discriminated based on factors such as base pairs, hairpins, and mismatches. As a proof of concept, this method was extended towards a label-free DNA melting method.
Recommended Citation
Ho, Denny, "Detection and Melting of Surface-Bound DNA using a Purely Electrochemical Approach" (2018). Master's Theses. 1152.
https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/1152
