Synthesis, characterisation, and application of chamomile gold nanoparticles in molecular diagnostics: a new component for PCR kits

Abstract

Various strategies have been suggested for successful amplification of the hard-to-amplify nucleic acids such as the inclusion of various chemical or biological materials in the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reactions, particularly polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and adjustment of the cycling programs. Although much efforts have been madefor improvements in the enhancement of polymerase chain reactions of high GC content nucleic acids, still significant challenges remain. In this study, the effects of citrate-coated AuNP and chamomile extract-coated AuNP (p-AuNP) on amplification of three genes with significant different GC percentage were evaluated. Owing to the enormous potential of gold nanoparticles in the enhancement of the PCR reactions, we showed the promising and consistent findings on the application of very dilute biocompatible chamomile-gold nanoparticles as safe and low-cost nanomaterials for molecular amplification of GC-rich DNA samples. We hypothesized that green AuNPs, which have different surface chemistry from cit-AuNPs, not only do not interfere with the PCR reactants but also are capable of enhancing PCR reactions. These results, for the first time, confirm the potential of using the green gold nanoparticles in the heat-assisted enzymatic in vitro reactions, suggesting Chamomile gold nanoparticles as reliable component of any PCR kits.