Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Measurements of DNA with a Single Nucleotide Spatial Resolution and Sensitivity

This paper reports ultrasensitive DNA detection using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with a single DNA base spatial resolution and sensitivity. In this study, a gold nanoparticle dimer with a high enhancement factor (over 1011 times) of Raman scattering was used. We evaluated single-base measurements of DNA oligomers by SERS using a gold nanoparticle dimer. The results indicate that the gold nanoparticle dimers fabricated in this study have single-nucleotide sensitivity and single-nucleotide spatial resolution. In most cases, the results were consistent with the nucleotide sequences. This method will achieve DNA sequencing based on SERS, which allows a higher identification capability of DNA bases, including methylation, than other direct measurement methods such as nanopores or nanoelectrodes.