The colorimetric assay of DNA methyltransferase activity based on strand displacement amplification

[Display omitted] •We reported a novel colorimetric biosensor for the assay of DNA methyltransferase activity.•Strand displacement amplification was employed for M.SssI activity inhibition assay.•With the advantages of SDA, highly sensitive detection of M.SssI activity and inhibition was achieved. In this paper, we present a colorimetric method for the assay of DNA methyltransferase (MTase) activity based on strand displacement amplification (SDA). In our study, a well-designed hairpin DNA I (HPI) containing the sequence of 5′-CCGG-3′ is specifically recognized by CpG methyltransferase (M.SssI) and HpaII endonuclease. The methylated HPI is able to coexist with all the DNA and enzymes in the solution while the unmethylated HPI can be cleaved into single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) fragments. The amplification can be triggered by the HpaII digestion products hybridization with another hairpin structure DNA II (HPII) to form a duplex, which would be replaced by probe DNA, leading to the aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Simultaneously, ssDNA fragments released from the duplex, and triggered the cycle anew. Varying concentrations of M.SssI in the solution therefore would lead to differences of absorption and color changed from red to pale. A linear response was obtained when the M.SssI concentration ranging from 0.2 to 50UmL−1 with a detection limit of 0.08UmL−1. In addition, the developed assay in this study can also be applied to screen the inhibitors of M.SssI.