Figure 1.

A schematic diagram of the R9-QD-miR124a beacons to image miR124a. The amine-terminated oligonucleotide containing the miR124a recognition sequence was annealed at the region with partial complementary sequences attached to the quencher molecules, which was designated as the miR124a-targeting oligomer. The carboxyl-terminated QD655 was conjugated with the miR124a-targeting oligomer and the R9 peptide. When the mature miR124a was hybridized with the miR124a binding region in the R9-QD-miR124a beacons, the quencher molecules were separated, resulting in an increase in the fluorescence signal.