SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) to Identify DNA Motifs Mirroring Chromosome Targets of the Hypothetical Transcription Factor NLRP3.

Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) utilizes multiple rounds of binding of a combinatorial oligo(deoxy)nucleotide library to generate high-affinity DNA/RNA ligands for the studied molecules. Common applications of SELEX include developing aptamers for diagnosis or therapeutics in translational field or studying DNA/RNA interactions with partners in basic research fields. The protocol described here was used to characterize the features of DNA segments bound by NLRP3 proteins, which were recently discovered to translocate into nuclei upon viral infection of cells. These results validated the hypothesis that the nuclear-resident NLRP3 protein functions as a transcription factor that affects transcription.