Aptameric enzyme subunit for biosensing based on enzymatic activity measurement

Anal Chem. 2006 May 15;78(10):3296-303. doi: 10.1021/ac060254o.

Abstract

The aptameric enzyme subunit (AES), which is a DNA aptamer composed of an enzyme-inhibiting aptamer and a target molecule-binding aptamer, has been developed for the biosensing of target molecules. We used a thrombin-inhibiting aptamer as the aptamer that inhibits enzymatic activity. The thrombin-inhibiting aptamer folds into the G-quartet structure, which plays an important role in its inhibitory activity. As a target molecule-binding aptamer, an adenosine-binding aptamer was inserted into the G-quartet structure of the thrombin-inhibiting aptamer to enable the change of the G-quartet structure upon the recognition of adenosine. In the present study, the change in the G-quartet structure led to a change in the thrombin inhibition activity, and adenosine was successfully detected by measuring the thrombin activity in a homogeneous solution without bound/free separation. We constructed two kinds of AESs; one of the structures is universal and can be used for designing any target molecule-binding aptamer. Since the enzyme activity is measured, AESs enable the simple and high-sensitivity detection of target molecules in a homogeneous assay.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine / chemistry
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / chemistry
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / metabolism*
  • Base Sequence
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • Calibration
  • Circular Dichroism
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Protease Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Protease Inhibitors / metabolism*
  • Protein Subunits / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Protein Subunits / chemistry
  • Protein Subunits / metabolism*
  • Thrombin / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Thrombin / metabolism*

Substances

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Protease Inhibitors
  • Protein Subunits
  • Thrombin
  • Adenosine