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Competition-Enhanced Ligand Selection to Screen for DNA Aptamers for Spherical Gold Nanoparticles
Maeling Tapp, Patrick Dennis1, Rajesh R Naik2
1Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Soft Matter Materials Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, United States.
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|July 19, 2021
Summary
Competition-Enhanced Ligand Selection (CompELS) identified 24 aptamer candidates for gold nanoparticles. Unlike traditional methods, CompELS uses competition to enrich aptamer pools, revealing shared secondary structure motifs rather than primary sequence patterns.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Nanotechnology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Aptamer selection is crucial for developing molecular tools.
- Conventional Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX) involves iterative elution and amplification steps.
- Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are widely used in diagnostics and therapeutics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify aptamer candidates for spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using the Competition-Enhanced Ligand Selection (CompELS) method.
- To compare the primary and secondary structures of the identified aptamer candidates.
- To investigate the structural features that may contribute to aptamer binding.
Main Methods:
- The Competition-Enhanced Ligand Selection (CompELS) approach was employed for aptamer screening against AuNPs.
- CompELS differs from SELEX by introducing competition in each round, eliminating repeated elution and PCR amplification.
- A pool of 24 aptamer candidates was generated and analyzed for sequence and structural similarities.
Main Results:
- Twenty-four aptamer candidates targeting AuNPs were successfully identified using CompELS.
- No consistent patterns were observed in the primary sequences of the aptamers.
- Shared motifs were identified in the predicted secondary structures of the aptamers, including hairpins, duplexes, and loops.
Conclusions:
- The CompELS method is effective for identifying aptamer candidates against specific targets like AuNPs.
- Secondary structure motifs, rather than primary sequence, appear to be important for aptamer recognition of AuNPs.
- Further studies can explore the functional relevance of these shared structural motifs.
