https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02581-2
Regular Article
Validation of circular dichroic spectroscopy of synthetic oligonucleotide PS2.M for 
concentration measurements
1
National Institute for Biostructures and Biosystems, Rome, Italy
2
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
3
Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), Unit of Histology, Embryology and Applied Biology, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Received:
29
September
2021
Accepted:
3
March
2022
Published online:
7
April
2022
The single-stranded synthetic oligonucleotide PS2.M is known to provide a basis for developing sensors since it tends to fold into structures called G-quadruplexes (G4) having characteristic topology and orientation with probabilities that depend on the chemical environment. The presence and concentration of cation species are among the key factors that determine the outcome of such a process. PS2.M and other aptamers have been used in several applications in conjunction with various probes, such as hemin, at the cost of increased technical complexity and applicability limitations. We instead validated the application limits of Circular Dichroic spectroscopy (CD) as only measurement method to assay PS2.M as sensor in a variety of solutions having different chemical complexity. The tested solutions range from simple 
and 
solutions to chemically complex solutions like DMEM—Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium—which is widely used in a biological laboratory. PS2.M was also evaluated in solutions of 
and D-ribose (K:D-rib), an antioxidant potassium compound, to compare its response to the simple solution case. Our findings show that, within specific concentration applicability ranges, CD spectra can estimate the concentration in the examined water solutions even at high 
concentrations with respect to and in the presence of antioxidant molecules.
The funding note has been missing and added: Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Parma within the CRUICARE Agreement.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02581-2.
Copyright comment corrected publication 2022
© The Author(s) 2022. corrected publication 2022
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