Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Nanoplatform Based on Recognition-Induced Fusion/Fission of DNA Mixed Micelles for Nucleic Acid Sensing

[Image: see text] The dynamic nature of micellar nanostructures is employed to form a self-assembled Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) nanoplatform for enhanced sensing of DNA. The platform consists of lipid oligonucleotide FRET probes incorporated into micellar scaffolds, where single recognition events result in fusion and fission of DNA mixed micelles, triggering the fluorescence response of multiple rather than a single FRET pair. In comparison to conventional FRET substrates where a single donor interacts with a single acceptor, the micellar multiplex FRET system showed ∼20- and ∼3-fold enhancements in the limit of detection and FRET efficiency, respectively. This supramolecular signal amplification approach could potentially be used to improve FRET-based diagnostic assays of nucleic acid and non-DNA based targets.