Structure-Switching Signaling Aptamers

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids with defined tertiary structures for selective binding to target molecules. Aptamers are also able to bind a complementary DNA sequence to form a duplex structure. In this report, we describe a strategy for designing aptamer-based fluorescent reporters that function by switching structures from DNA/DNA duplex to DNA/target complex. The duplex is formed between a fluorophore-labeled DNA aptamer and a …