Controlling a gap between electrodes arranged in nanometer size has a great potential for a highly sensitive detection. We have successfully fabricated a sensor based on a nano-gapped gold particle film consisting of gold nanoparticle-alkylchain-gold nanoparticle repeated sequences in a straightforward manner. Here we report on its application to direct DNA analysis, enabling us to read out a specific complementary DNA through electronic protocols. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.