Nucleic acid aptamers and enzymes as sensors - Aptamers

Nucleic acid aptamers and enzymes as sensors
Available online 4 May 2006
Naveen K Navani and Yingfu Li
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
The function of nucleic acids has been an endless source of discovery and invention that has drastically enhanced our appreciation of DNA and RNA as multifaceted polymers. It is now widely known that nucleic acids can act as enzymes (deoxyribozymes and ribozymes) and as receptors (aptamers), and that these functional nucleic acids (FNAs) can either be found in nature or isolated from pools of random nucleic acids. The availability of many natural and artificial FNAs has opened a new horizon for the development of ?smart? molecules for a variety of chemical and biological applications. This review provides a snapshot of recent progress in the application of FNAs as novel sensors for biomolecular detection, drug discovery and nanotechnology.
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