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Nanomanipulation of Single RNA Molecules by Optical Tweezers
Published on: August 20, 2014
Engineered riboswitches: Expanding researchers' toolbox with synthetic RNA regulators
Alexander Wittmann1, Beatrix Suess
1Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue Straße 9, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Abstract:
Riboswitches are natural RNA-based genetic switches that sense small-molecule metabolites and regulate in response the expression of the corresponding metabolic genes. Within the last years, several engineered riboswitches have been developed that act on various stages of gene expression. These switches can be engineered to respond to any ligand of choice and are therefore of great interest for synthetic biology. In this review, we present an overview of engineered riboswitches and discuss their application in conditional gene expression systems. We will provide structural and mechanistic insights and point out problems and recent trends in the development of engineered riboswitches.
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