Peroxidyme-Amplified Radical Chain Reaction (PARCR): Visible Detection of a Catalytic Reporter.

Peroxidyme Amplified Radical Chain Reaction (PARCR), a novel enzyme-free system that achieves exponential amplification of a visible signal, is presented. Typical enzyme-free amplification systems that produce a visible readout suffer from long reaction times, low sensitivity, and narrow dynamic range. PARCR employs photocatalyzed nonlinear signal generation, enabling unprecedented one-pot, naked-eye detection of a catalytic reporter from 1 μm down to 100 pm. In this reaction, hemin-binding peroxidase-mimicking DNAzymes ("peroxidymes") mediate the NADH-driven oxidation of a colorless, nonfluorescent phenoxazine dye (Amplex Red) to a brightly colored, strongly fluorescent product (resorufin); illumination with green light initiates multiple radical-forming positive-feedback loops, rapidly producing visible levels of resorufin. Collectively, these results demonstrate the potential of PARCR as an easy-to-use readout for a range of detection schemes, including aptamer labels, hybridization assays, and nucleic acid amplification.