Homogeneous DNA sensing using enzyme-inhibiting DNA aptamers

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2006 Sep 15;348(1):245-52. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.07.069. Epub 2006 Jul 21.

Abstract

A novel aptameric enzyme subunit (AES) which can detect target DNAs has been developed. AES is an enzyme-inhibiting aptamer bearing a target-molecule binding site which can allosterically control enzymatic activity. The thrombin-inhibiting aptamer bearing a G-quartet structure was chosen as the enzyme-inhibiting aptamer. The stem-and-loop structure, which contains a strand complementary to the target DNA, was inserted into the G-quartet structure of the thrombin-inhibiting aptamer to disrupt the G-quartet structure through the hybridization of the target DNA with the complementary strand in the AES. The disruption of the G-quartet structure led to a decrease of the inhibitory activity of the whole aptameric complex. Using this designed aptamer, we were able to detect target DNAs by measuring the thrombin activity in a homogeneous solution without bound/free separation, and the lower detection limit was 20 nM.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Peptide
  • Base Sequence
  • Biosensing Techniques
  • DNA / analysis*
  • DNA / genetics
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Protein Subunits / analysis
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods
  • Thrombin / analysis*
  • Thrombin / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Thrombin / genetics

Substances

  • Aptamers, Peptide
  • Protein Subunits
  • DNA
  • Thrombin