School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Molecules. 2018 Jul 11;23(7):1695. doi: 10.3390/molecules23071695.
DNA aptamers are important tools for molecular recognition, particularly for a new generation of tools for biomedicine based on nucleic acid nanostructures. Here, we investigated the relative abilities of different shapes and sizes of DNA polyhedra to display an aptamer which binds to the malaria biomarker lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH). The aptamer was shown to perform an Aptamer-Tethered Enzyme Capture (APTEC) assay with the hypothesis that the display of the aptamer above the surface through the use of a polyhedron may lead to better sensitivity than use of the aptamer alone. We compared different numbers of points of contact, different shapes, including tetrahedron, square, and pentagon-based pyramids, as well as prisms. We also investigated the optimal height of display of the structure. Our results demonstrated that the display of an aptamer on an optimized nanostructure improved sensitivity up to 6-fold relative to the aptamer alone in the APTEC assay. Other important factors included multiple basal points of contact with the surface, a tetrahedron proved superior to the more complex shaped structures, and height above the surface only made minor differences to efficacy. The display of an aptamer on a nanostructure may be beneficial for higher sensitivity aptamer-mediated malaria diagnosis. Aptamer displays using DNA nanostructure polyhedron supports could be a useful approach in a variety of applications.
DNA 适体是分子识别的重要工具，特别是在基于核酸纳米结构的新一代生物医学工具中。在这里，我们研究了不同形状和大小的 DNA 多面体展示与疟疾生物标志物乳酸脱氢酶（PfLDH）结合的适体的相对能力。该适体进行了适体连接酶捕获（APTEC）检测，假设通过使用多面体将适体显示在表面上方可能会比单独使用适体具有更好的灵敏度。我们比较了不同数量的接触点、不同的形状，包括四面体、基于正方形和五边形的金字塔以及棱柱体。我们还研究了结构显示的最佳高度。我们的结果表明，与单独使用适体相比，在 APTEC 检测中，将适体显示在优化的纳米结构上可将灵敏度提高 6 倍。其他重要因素包括与表面的多个基础接触点，四面体优于更复杂形状的结构，并且表面上方的高度对功效的影响很小。在纳米结构上显示适体可能有助于提高基于适体的疟疾诊断的灵敏度。使用 DNA 纳米结构多面体支架展示适体可能是各种应用中的一种有用方法。
