Some of the grimmest epidemics in history were caused by viruses that use RNA as their genetic material — the AIDS explosion of the 1980s, the spate of Ebola cases in West Africa, and most recently, the Zika outbreak that occurred throughout the Americas. The detection of viral RNA is integral to diagnosis and treatment of these diseases; current methods include standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) processes and DNA microarrays.
Scientists at Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, have developed another technique. In this method, the RNA target binds to a probe comprising gold nanorods and single-stranded DNA. When the RNA binds, the probe’s chirality switches, which can be detected by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy.
The term circular dichroism refers to the differential absorption of circularly polarized light, which can be right- or left-handed. Visible light is made up of electromagnetic waves; it has coupled oscillating electric and magnetic fields. Polarization of light is the direction of its electric field — in circular polarization, the electric fields rotate at a constant rate within the plane. This movement can be either right-handed (RCP) or left-handed (LCP)....
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