Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and imaging of artificial RNA.

We use terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to measure the far-infrared dielectric function of two artificial RNA single strands, composed of polyadenylic acid (poly-A) and polycytidylic acid (poly-C). We find a significant difference in the absorption between the two types of RNA strands, and we show that we can use this difference to record images of spot arrays of the RNA strands. Under controlled conditions it is possible to use the THz image to distinguish between the two RNA strands. We discuss the requirements to sample preparation imposed by the lack of sharp spectral features in the absorption spectra.

[1]  Frank Rutz,et al.  Experimental and theoretical study of the THz absorption spectra of selected tripeptides , 2005, SPIE OPTO.

[2]  Olga Zeni,et al.  THz radiation studies on biological systems at the ENEA FEL facility , 2004 .

[3]  Alan W. M. Lee,et al.  Optical attenuation signatures of Bacillus subtillis in the THz region , 2004 .

[4]  E. Pickwell‐MacPherson,et al.  Simulation of Terahertz Pulse Propagation in Biological Systems , 2004 .

[5]  Kevin W Plaxco,et al.  Terahertz circular dichroism spectroscopy: a potential approach to the in situ detection of life's metabolic and genetic machinery. , 2003, Astrobiology.

[6]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Protein flexibility and conformational state: a comparison of collective vibrational modes of wild-type and D96N bacteriorhodopsin. , 2003, Biophysical journal.

[7]  E. Linfield,et al.  Terahertz Pulsed Imaging of Skin Cancer in the Time and Frequency Domain , 2003, Journal of biological physics.

[8]  B. Gelmont,et al.  Sub-millimetre wave absorption spectra of artificial RNA molecules , 2003 .

[9]  B. Fischer,et al.  Noncovalent intermolecular forces in polycrystalline and amorphous saccharides in the far infrared , 2003 .

[10]  Andrea Markelz,et al.  THz time domain spectroscopy of biomolecular conformational modes. , 2002, Physics in medicine and biology.

[11]  M Koch,et al.  Medical THz imaging: an investigation of histo-pathological samples. , 2002, Physics in medicine and biology.

[12]  J L Hesler,et al.  Submillimeter-wave phonon modes in DNA macromolecules. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[13]  A. J. Taylor,et al.  Dielectric relaxation of electrolyte solutions using terahertz transmission spectroscopy , 2002 .

[14]  Michael Nagel,et al.  Integrated THz technology for label-free genetic diagnostics , 2002 .

[15]  J. M. Chamberlain,et al.  The interaction between Terahertz radiation and biological tissue. , 2001, Physics in medicine and biology.

[16]  Markus Walther,et al.  Fundamental and second-order phonon processes in CdTe and ZnTe , 2001 .

[17]  Hanspeter Helm,et al.  Far-infrared vibrational spectra of all-trans, 9-cis and 13-cis retinal measured by THz time-domain spectroscopy , 2000 .

[18]  A. Bosserhoff,et al.  Label-Free Probing of the Binding State of DNA by Time-Domain Terahertz Sensing , 2000 .

[19]  B. Fischer,et al.  Dynamic range in terahertz time-domain transmission and reflection spectroscopy. , 2005, Optics letters.