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Autocatalytic aptazymes enable ligand-dependent exponential amplification of RNA

Academic Article
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Overview

authors

  • Lam, B. J.
  • Joyce, Gerald

publication date

  • 2009

journal

  • Nature Biotechnology  Journal

abstract

  • RNA enzymes have been developed that undergo self-sustained replication at a constant temperature in the absence of proteins. These RNA molecules amplify exponentially through a cross-replicative process, whereby two enzymes catalyze each other's synthesis by joining component oligonucleotides. Other RNA enzymes have been made to operate in a ligand-dependent manner by combining a catalytic domain with a ligand-binding domain (aptamer) to produce an 'aptazyme'. The principle of ligand-dependent RNA catalysis has now been extended to the cross-replicating RNA enzymes so that exponential amplification occurs in the presence, but not the absence, of the cognate ligand. The exponential growth rate of the RNA depends on the concentration of the ligand, allowing one to determine the concentration of ligand in a sample. This process is analogous to quantitative PCR (qPCR) but can be generalized to a wide variety of targets, including proteins and small molecules that are relevant to medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

subject areas

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Biocatalysis
  • Kinetics
  • Ligands
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Polynucleotide Ligases
  • RNA
  • RNA Ligase (ATP)
  • RNA, Catalytic
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Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC2695811

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1087-0156

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/nbt.1528

PubMed ID

  • 19234448
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Additional Document Info

start page

  • 288

end page

  • 292

volume

  • 27

issue

  • 3

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