DNA-supramolecule conjugates in theranostics
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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Conjugative Mating Assays for Sequence-specific Analysis of Transfer Proteins Involved in Bacterial Conjugation
Published on: January 4, 2017
Kun Chen1, Ting Fu1, Weidi Sun1
1Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Life Sciences, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
Abstract:
The elegant properties of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), such as accurate recognition, programmability and addressability, make it a well-defined and promising material to develop various molecular probes, drug delivery carriers and theranostic systems for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In addition, supramolecular chemistry, also termed "chemistry beyond the molecule", is a promising research field that aims to develop functional chemical systems by bringing discrete molecular components together in a manner that invokes noncovalent intermolecular forces, such as hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, and shape or size matching. Thus, DNA-supramolecule conjugates (DSCs) combine accurate recognition, programmability and addressability of DNA with the greater toolbox of supramolecular chemistry. This review discusses the applications of DSCs in sensing, protein activity regulation, cell behavior manipulation, and biomedicine.
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