High-Throughput Aptamer Characterization via Real-Time Nuclease Digestion

Abstract Aptamers, oligonucleotides that bind specific molecules with high affinity, have become popular biorecognition elements for diverse applications. While aptamer discovery via in vitro selection has become more straightforward, it remains challenging to accurately characterize aptamer binding in an accurate and high-throughput manner. Here, we present a next-generation version of our previously reported first-generation exonuclease digestion assays for screening aptamer-ligand interactions in a parallel and label-free manner. Our new real-time exonuclease (RT-Exo) assay delivers throughput exceeding that of the previous-generation