Aptamers are known to generally undergo a conformational change upon binding to their ligand. This can be exploited for signaling the presence of the target. The structural change is then associated to a signal (fluorescence energy transfer for instance). This can be deliberately exploited for the design of aptamer-based biosensors.
Novaptech structure switching aptamers take advantage of so-called kissing interactions. Loop-loop or “kissing” complexes involve the formation of a short double-strand between complementary apical loops of nucleic acid hairpins. The aptamer switches between an open and a closed hairpin shape in the absence and in the presence of its cognate ligand, respectively. In the closed form the aptaswitch is recognized by another hairpin named aptakiss through kissing interaction. The aptakiss does not bind to the open aptaswitch. Consequently the aptakiss-aptaswitch complex signals the presence of the target.
Kissing interactions are used to perform the selection in the Novaptech SELkiss procedure. Selection is carried out against free molecules in solution. The selected candidates are functional aptaswitches that can be integrated into biosensors.
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