Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Innovazione. Università del Salento, via Monteroni, Lecce, Italy.
Nanotechnology. 2017 Feb 10;28(6):065502. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/aa510f. Epub 2017 Jan 4.
Aptamers are chemically produced oligonucleotides, able to bind a variety of targets such as drugs, proteins and pathogens with high sensitivity and selectivity. Therefore, aptamers are largely employed for producing label-free biosensors (aptasensors), with significant applications in diagnostics and drug delivery. In particular, the anti-thrombin aptamers are biomolecules of high interest for clinical use, because of their ability to recognize and bind the thrombin enzyme. Among them, the DNA 15-mer aptamer (TBA), has been widely explored around the possibility of using it in aptasensors. This paper proposes a microscopic model of the electrical properties of TBA and of the aptamer-thrombin complex, combining information from both structure and function, following the issues addressed in an emerging branch of electronics known as proteotronics. The theoretical results are compared and validated with measurements reported in the literature. Finally, the model suggests resistance measurements as a novel tool for testing aptamer-target affinity.
适体是化学合成的寡核苷酸，能够以高灵敏度和选择性结合各种靶标，如药物、蛋白质和病原体。因此，适体被广泛用于生产无标记的生物传感器（适体传感器），在诊断和药物输送方面有重要的应用。特别是，抗凝血酶适体是临床应用中非常有意义的生物分子，因为它们能够识别和结合凝血酶酶。其中，DNA 15-mer 适体（TBA）已被广泛探索用于适体传感器的可能性。本文提出了 TBA 和适体-凝血酶复合物的电学特性的微观模型，结合了结构和功能的信息，遵循了电子学中一个新兴分支——蛋白质电子学所涉及的问题。理论结果与文献中报道的测量结果进行了比较和验证。最后，该模型提出了电阻测量作为一种测试适体-靶标亲和力的新工具。
