CPC C12N 13/00 (2013.01) [C12N 15/01 (2013.01); C12N 15/102 (2013.01); C12Q 2523/313 (2013.01)] | 5 Claims |
1. A method of breaking a target nucleic acid in vitro, the method comprising:
(i) providing, in vitro, a target nucleic acid sequence comprising plasmid or linear DNA to be broken;
(ii) providing a pre-assembled complex for breaking the target nucleic acid sequence, the complex comprising:
a. a metal nanocluster of 2 to 14 silver atoms;
b. a nucleic acid molecule of single stranded DNA that is different from the target nucleic acid sequence and shorter than the target nucleic acid sequence, the single stranded DNA comprising:
i. an annealing region of 10 to 25 consecutive nucleotides that comprises 60% adenine and thymine nucleotides that are complementary to consecutive nucleotides of the target nucleic acid sequence, and
ii. a nucleation region that flanks the annealing region and is positioned around the metal nanocluster, the nucleation region comprising 8 consecutive cytosine nucleotides;
(iii) contacting the consecutive nucleotides of the annealing region of the complex to the consecutive nucleotides of the target nucleic acid, thereby annealing the pre-assembled complex to the target nucleic acid sequence; and
(iv) inducing a nucleic acid break in the target nucleic acid by exposing the metal nanocluster at the nucleation region to electromagnetic radiation.
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