Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2025
08:11
Determination of In Vitro and Cellular Turn-on Kinetics for Fluorogenic RNA Aptamers
Published on: August 9, 2022
1.8K
In vitro selection of a trans aptamer complex for target-responsive fluorescence activation
Soyeon V Park1, Byunghwa Kang1, Minjong Lee1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 37673, South Korea.
Analytica Chimica Acta
|March 29, 2024
Summary
Researchers developed a novel
Area of Science:
- Molecular biology
- Biochemistry
- Synthetic biology
Background:
- Constructing multifunctional molecular complexes with distinct functional domains is challenging.
- Aptamers offer a tunable platform for engineering complex functionalities.
- Conventional aptamer combinations suffer from crosstalk and non-specific interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer a multi-aptamer complex that preserves independent functions of each unit.
- To avoid interference and non-specific interactions in complex aptamer systems.
- To develop a novel biosensing platform with enhanced specificity and reduced crosstalk.
Main Methods:
- In vitro selection of a 'trans' aptamer complex.
- Designing aptamer units ('modules') with specific sensing and utility functions.
- Utilizing target-induced separation to activate functional modules.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a 'trans' aptamer complex where a utility module is activated upon target binding by a sensing module.
- Achieved separation of aptamer units, preventing crosstalk and non-specific binding.
- Developed a serotonin sensor with high specificity (16-fold discrimination) and robustness.
Conclusions:
- This study presents the first de novo selected 'trans' aptamer complex.
- The selected complex functions without chemical modifications or extensive optimization.
- The strategy is broadly applicable to nucleic acid-based biosensing and therapeutics.
