Identification and characterization of nucleobase-modified aptamers by click-SELEX

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that are in vitro-selected to recognize their target molecule with high affinity and specificity. As they consist of the four canonical nucleobases, their chemical diversity is limited, which in turn limits the addressable target spectrum. Introducing chemical modifications into nucleic acid libraries increases the interaction capabilities of the DNA and thereby the target spectrum. Here, we describe a protocol to select nucleobase-modified aptamers by using click chemistry (CuAAC) to introduce the preferred chemical modification. The use of click chemistry to modify the DNA library enables the introduction of a wide range of possible functionalities, which can be customized to the requirements of the target molecule and the desired application. This protocol yields modified DNA aptamers with extended interaction properties that are not accessible with the canonical set of nucleotides. After synthesis of the starting library containing a commercially available, alkyne-modified uridine (5-ethynyl-deoxyuridine (EdU)) instead of thymidine, the library is functionalized with the modification of choice by CuAAC. The thus-modified DNA is incubated with the target molecule and the best binding sequences are recovered. The chemical modification is removed during the amplification process. Therefore, this protocol is compatible with conventional amplification procedures and avoids enzymatic incompatibility problems associated with more extensive nucleobase modifications. After single-strand generation, the modification is reintroduced into the enriched library, which can then be subjected to the subsequent selection cycle. The duration of each selection cycle as outlined in the protocol is ∼1 d.