Institute for Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hanover, Hannover, Germany.
Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2020;170:107-119. doi: 10.1007/10_2019_92.
Aptazymes are synthetic molecules composed of an aptamer domain and a catalytic active nucleic acid unit, which may be a ribozyme or a DNAzyme. In these constructs the aptamer domain serves as a molecular switch that can regulate the catalytic activity of the ribozyme or DNAzyme subunit. This regulation is triggered by binding of the aptamers target molecule, which causes significant structural changes in the aptamer and thus in the entire aptazyme. Therefore, aptazymes function similar to allosteric enzymes, whose catalytic activity is regulated by binding of ligands (effectors) to allosteric sites due to alteration of the three-dimensional structure of the active site of the enzyme. In case of aptazymes, the allosteric site is composed of an aptamer. Aptazymes can be designed for different applications and have already been used in analytical assays as well as for the regulation of gene expression.
适体酶是由适体结构域和催化活性核酸单元组成的人工合成分子，这种核酸单元可以是核酶或脱氧核酶。在这些结构中，适体结构域起到分子开关的作用，能够调节核酶或脱氧核酶亚基的催化活性。这种调节是由适体与靶分子的结合触发的，这种结合会导致适体的显著结构变化，从而导致整个适体酶的结构变化。因此，适体酶的功能类似于变构酶，变构酶的催化活性通过配体（效应物）与变构位点的结合来调节，这是由于酶的活性位点的三维结构发生了改变。在适体酶的情况下，变构位点由适体组成。适体酶可以针对不同的应用进行设计，并且已经在分析测定中以及用于基因表达的调控中得到了应用。
