Recent advances in the bioanalytical and biomedical applications of DNA-templated silver nanoclusters

• Published in: TrAC, Trends in analytical chemistry (Regular ed.) Trends in analytical chemistry (Regular ed.), 2020-03, Vol.124, p.115786, Article 115786
• Main Authors: Xu, Jiaqi, Zhu, Xuanmeng, Zhou, Xi, Khusbu, Farjana Yeasmin, Ma, Changbei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplification; Bioimaging; Biomedicine; Biosensing; Silver nanocluster
• ISSN: 0165-9936; 1879-3142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2019.115786

Silver nanoclusters stabilized with DNA scaffolds, with excellent physical and chemical properties, have emerged as a versatile tool in biomedical systems. Silver nanoclusters as a late-model nanomaterial with a small size less than 2 nm shows good stability and strong fluorescence. By using DNA with diverse sequence and structures, soluble DNA-templated silver nanoclusters are facilely prepared. They possess tunable fluorescence emission and are suitable with multifunctional designs. Extensive efforts have been put into the application potential of this biocompatible material for biosensing, bioimaging and therapy. Here we are committed to outline the recent advances of DNA-templated silver nanoclusters in biomedical application. The future prospect and challenges are then discussed considering rising progress. Though there is still a long way for illuminating the mechanism behind traits and conducting further clinical trials, we believe DNA-templated silver nanoclusters’ unprecedented unique properties will finally benefit medical progress. •DNA-AgNCs have displayed advantages including ultra-small size, solubility, stable fluorescence emission.•The applications of DNA-AgNCs to biosensing were summarized.•The applications of DNA-AgNCs in bioimaging and therapy were summarized.•Potential opportunities and challenges regarding this field is discussed.