Background: Artificial oligonucleotides like DNA or RNA aptamers can be used as biodiagnostic alternatives for antibodies to detect pathogens. Comparing to antibodies, artificial oligonucleotides are produced easily at lower costs and are more stable. Neisseria meningitidis, the causative agent of meningitis, is responsible for about 1% of infections in an epidemic period. Specific DNA aptamers...

Cellular behavior is orchestrated by the complex interactions of a myriad of intracellular signal transduction pathways. To understand and investigate the role of individual components in such signaling networks, the availability of specific inhibitors is of paramount importance. We report the generation and validation of a novel variant of an RNA aptamer that selectively inhibits the mitogen-a...

An RNA-based fluorogenic module consists of a light-up RNA aptamer able to specifically interact with a fluorogen to form a fluorescent complex. Over the past decade, significant efforts have been devoted to the development of such modules, which now cover the whole visible spectrum, as well as to their engineering to serve in a wide range of applications. In this review, we summarize the diffe...

By utilizing RNA nanotechnology, we engineered both therapeutic siRNA and a receptor-binding RNA aptamer into individual pRNAs of phi29's motor. The RNA building block harboring siRNA or other therapeutic molecules was fabricated subsequently into a trimer through the interaction of engineered right and left interlocking RNA loops. The incubation of the protein-free nanoscale particles containi...

Artificial riboswitches can be generated by functional coupling of an RNA aptamer for synthetic small molecule to an expression platform. RNA aptamers that can bind strongly and selectively to their target are feasible to be used for obtaining more potent artificial riboswitches. In this chapter, we describe tips and notes for in vitro selection of RNA aptamers targeting synthetic small molecules.

Determination of subcellular localization and dynamics of mRNA is increasingly important to understanding gene expression. A new convenient and versatile method is reported that permits spatiotemporal imaging of specific non-engineered RNAs in living cells. The method uses transfection of a plasmid encoding a gene-specific RNA aptamer, combined with a cell-permeable synthetic small molecule, th...

objective(s): this paper describes a selective and sensitive biosensor based on the dissolution and aggregation of aptamer wrapped single-walled carbon nanotubes. we report on the direct detection of aptamer–cocaine interactions, namely between a dna aptamer and cocaine molecules based on near-infrared absorption at λ807. materials and methods: first a dna aptamer recognizing cocaine was non-co...

Many genetic and infectious diseases can be targeted at the RNA level as RNA is more accessible than DNA. We seek to develop new approaches for detection and tracking RNA in live cells, which is necessary for RNA-based diagnostics and therapy. We recently described a method for RNA visualization in live bacterial cells based on fluorescent protein complementation [1-3]. The RNA is tagged with a...

Although several imaging modalities are widely used for tumor imaging, none are tumor type-specific. Different types of cancer exhibit differential therapeutic responses, thus necessitating development of an imaging modality able to detect various tumor types with high specificity. To illustrate this point, CD30-specific oligonucleotide aptamer in vivo imaging probes were conjugated to the near...

Microarrays of RNA aptamers are fabricated in a one-step, multiplexed enzymatic synthesis on gold thin films in a microfluidic format and then employed in the detection of protein biomarkers with surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI) measurements. Single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) oligonucleotides are transcribed on-chip from double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) templates attached to microarray elements (d...