Terahertz-time domain spectroscopy for the detection of PCR amplified DNA in aqueous solution

Abstract

In this work we present a label free quantitative detection method for DNA samples amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in aqueous medium using terahertz-time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) in the frequency range from 0.3 to 1.2 THz. The DNA samples of 133 and 697 base pairs were prepared using PCR. We measured the absorption coefficients of DNA solutions in the concentration range of 0–0.3 ng μl⁻¹. For both DNA types, the absorption coefficients decreased with increasing DNA concentrations. The average change in absorption coefficients compared to buffer within the frequency range of 0.8–1.0 THz showed a linear behavior. Our results demonstrate that THz-TDS can detect PCR amplified DNA in aqueous solution with a minimum concentration of 0.1 ng μl⁻¹ and a minimum sample volume of 10 μl.