Cover Feature: In Vitro Selection and Characterization of a DNAzyme Probe for Diverse Pathogenic Strains of Clostridium difficile (Chem. Eur. J. 36/2023)

An RNA‐cleavage fluorogenic DNAzyme has been made for recognizing diverse strains of Clostridium difficile that frequently cause an infectious disease known as C. difficile infection (CDI). Upon encountering C. difficile cells, this DNAzyme cuts itself to produce a fluorescent signal, thus making it useful as a molecular probe for CDI diagnosis. This DNAzyme is highly specific as it stays silent in the presence of several control bacterial cells. The DNAzyme has an intriguing secondary structure with a pseudoknot arrangement that is essential for its functionality. More information can be found in the Research Article by Y. Li and co‐workers (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202300240).