Ligand-templated assembly of aptamers and ribozymes from short borono-based nucleic acids sequences

核酸杂交的可预测性质提供了一个简单和尖端的平台，以编程具有新兴功能的组件。虽然已知核酸是多功能的生物分子，在调节各种生物体中的基因表达方面发挥着至关重要的作用，但核酸作为组织特定分子精确排列的材料的新兴用途标志着智能生物架构相对年轻的历史中的一个重要里程碑。虽然功能性DNA和RNA在纳米技术和生物分析中的未来应用前景广阔，但在本项目中，我们着手设计和研究基于功能性刺激响应核酸的架构，能够通过形成可逆连接进行自组装。基于这两个合作伙伴的互补专业知识，本项目的主要目标是从用5 '-硼酸修饰的短DNA或RNA片段诱导小适体、核酶和适体酶的自组装，并展示它们的功能。关于我们的研究结果的可能应用，我们看到了生物传感领域的潜力;由5 '-硼酸修饰的寡核苷酸的集合组成的系统可用于检测/感测所选的分析物。我们认为我们的工作不仅与生物传感领域有关，而且还与RNA世界场景的调查有关，在RNA世界场景中，较小的寡核苷酸到较大的功能实体的自组织和自组装可能发挥了重要作用。正如已经假设的那样，与核糖的顺式二醇形成可逆键的硼酸可能先于RNA磷酸键，并且基于硼酸键的自组装的证明将强烈支持这一想法。

The predictable nature of nucleic acid hybridization offers a simple and cutting-edge platform to program assemblies with emerging function. While nucleic acids are known to be versatile biomolecules that play a crucial role in regulating gene expression in various organisms, the burgeoning use of nucleic acids as a material to organize the precise arrangements of specific molecules marked an important milestone in the relatively young history of smart bioarchitectures. While functional DNAs and RNAs hold great promise for future applications in nanotechnology and bioanalysis, in this project, we set out to design and study functional stimuli-responsive nucleic acids-based architectures, capable of self-assembling by formation of reversible linkages. Based on the complementary expertise of the two partners, the main goal of the present project is to induce the self-assembly of small aptamers, ribozymes and aptazymes from short DNA or RNA fragments modified with a 5'-boronic acid, and to demonstrate their functionality. With respect to possible application of our results, we see potential in the field of biosensing; a system composed of a collection of 5'-boronic acid modified oligonucleotides could be used for detection/sensing of a chosen analyte. We consider our work being relevant not only for the field of biosensing, but moreover for investigations into RNA world scenarios, where self-organization and self-assembly of smaller oligonucleotides to larger functional entities might have played an important role. As has been hypothesized, boronic acids forming reversible linkages with the cis-diol of ribose may have preceded RNA phosphate linkages, and the demonstration of boronic acid linkage based self-assembly would strongly support this idea.