Abstract
Functional nucleic acids such as aptamers and allosteric ribozymes can sense their ligands specifically, thereby undergoing structural alterations that can be converted into a detectable signal. The direct coupling of molecular recognition to signal generation in real time allows the generation of versatile reporters that can be applied in high-throughput screening (HTS). In the following chapter we describe different types of nucleic acids that have been applied successfully in screening approaches. We first refer to DNA and RNA aptamers, then consider allosteric ribozymes, and finally present examples of natural nucleic acids that were applied in screening assays.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the DFG, the SFBs 645 and 704 for grants to M.F., and the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a grant to A.R. and the members of the Famulok lab. This work was supported by Aventis Gencell and by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation (Priority program “conformational control”) to M.F. We thank M. Blind, G. Mayer, D. Proske, and G. Sengle (Universitat Bonn) for helpful discussions as well as J. Crouzet, J.F. Mayaux, and M. Finer (Aventis Gencell) for support.
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Rentmeister, A., Famulok, M. (2009). Functional Nucleic Acid Sensors as Screening Tools. In: Yingfu, L., Yi, L. (eds) Functional Nucleic Acids for Analytical Applications. Integrated Analytical Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73711-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73711-9_13
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