Enhanced functional potential of nucleic acid aptamer libraries patterned to increase secondary structure.

ABSTRACT: The in vitro selection of nucleic acid libraries has driven the discovery of RNA and DNA receptors (aptamers) and catalysts with tailor-made functional properties. Functional nucleic acids emerging from selections have been observed to possess an unusually high degree of secondary structure. In this study, we experimentally examined the relationship between the degree of secondary structure in a nucleic acid library and its ability to yield aptamers that bind protein targets. We designed a patterned nucleic acid library (denoted R*Y*) to enhance the formation of stem-loop structures without imposing any specific sequence or secondary structural requirement. This patterned library was predicted computationally to contain a significantly higher average folding energy compared to a standard,

SUBMITTER: Ruff KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2898215 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature