Werstuck G, Green M R
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 373 Plantation Street, Suite 309, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
Science. 1998 Oct 9;282(5387):296-8. doi: 10.1126/science.282.5387.296.
Short RNA aptamers that specifically bind to a wide variety of ligands in vitro can be isolated from randomized pools of RNA. Here it is shown that small molecule aptamers also bound their ligand in vivo, enabling development of a method for controlling gene expression in living cells. Insertion of a small molecule aptamer into the 5' untranslated region of a messenger RNA allowed its translation to be repressible by ligand addition in vitro as well as in mammalian cells. The ability of small molecules to control expression of specific genes could facilitate studies in many areas of biology and medicine.
能够在体外特异性结合多种配体的短RNA适体，可以从随机的RNA文库中分离出来。本文表明，小分子适体在体内也能结合其配体，从而开发出一种在活细胞中控制基因表达的方法。将小分子适体插入信使核糖核酸（mRNA）的5'非翻译区，可使其翻译在体外以及哺乳动物细胞中通过添加配体来抑制。小分子控制特定基因表达的能力有助于生物学和医学许多领域的研究。
