Flow Cytometric Bead Sandwich Assay Based on a Split Aptamer

A few aptamers still bind their targets after being split into two moieties. Split aptamers have shown great potential in the development of aptameric sensors. However, only a few split aptamers have been generated because of lack of knowledge on the binding structure of their parent aptamers. Here, we report the design of a new split aptamer and a flow cytometric bead sandwich assay using a split aptamer instead of double antibodies. Through DMS footprinting and mutation assay, we figured out the target-binding moiety and the structure-stabilizing moiety of the l-selectin aptamer, Sgc-3b. By separating the duplex strand in the structure-stabilizing moiety, we obtained a split aptamer that bound l-selectin. After optimization of one part of the split sequence to eliminate the nonspecific binding of the split sequence pair, we developed a split-aptamer-based cytometric bead assay (SACBA) for the detection of soluble l-selectin. SACBA showed good sensitivity and selectivity to l-selectin and was successfully applied for the detection of spiked l-selectin in the human serum. The strategies for generating split aptamers and designing the split-aptamer-based sandwich assay are simple and efficient and show good practicability in aptamer engineering.