A researcher at the University of Sheffield has developed a novel colorimetric sensor with properties which include detecting the presence of DNA.
This chemical compound can interact with DNA in a specific manner and undergoes a visible colour change; this specificity may be related to the sequence or,
more likely, the structure of the target DNA. The compound is a dinuclear Ruthenium-based coordination complex which can bind to DNA and undergoes a
colour change from purple to green or blue depending upon the nature of the DNA.
Some preliminary work suggests that the prototype molecule is not markedly cytotoxic and so could be used for research with live, rather than fixed, cells.
A striking feature of the molecule is its apparent ability to specifically bind certain DNA structures, offering the possibility of the direct detection of these
structures in living cells and the use of this compound as a tool for studying cell biology. The image below shows the colour change of a solution of the
compound on addition of calf thymus DNA.
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