challenges and opportunities for small molecule aptamer development为小分子适体发展的挑战和机遇.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Nucleic Acids Volume 2012, Article ID 748913, 20 pages doi:10.1155/2012/748913 Review Article Challenges and Opportunities for Small Molecule Aptamer Development Maureen McKeague and Maria C. DeRosa Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6 Correspondence should be addressed to Maria C. DeRosa, maria derosa@carleton.ca Received 30 July 2012; Accepted 8 September 2012 Academic Editor: Masayasu Kuwahara Copyright © 2012 M. McKeague and M. C. DeRosa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that bind to targets with high affinity and selectivity. Their use as molecular recognition elements has emerged as a viable approach for biosensing, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Despite this potential, relatively few aptamers exist that bind to small molecules. Small molecules are important targets for investigation due to their diverse biological functions as well as their clinical and commercial uses. Novel, effective molecular recognition probes for these compounds are therefore of great interest. This paper will highlight the technical challenges of aptamer development for small molecule targets, as well as the opportunities that exist for their application in biosensing and chemical biology. 1. Aptamers as Molecular Recognition Elements there has been increased focus on the development of new molecular recognition probes for s