Self-Assembled Signaling Aptamer Arrays for Protein Detection

The present invention describes a novel approach for a DNA tile directed self-assembly of signaling aptamers into high-density nanoarrays for detection of protein molecules. signaling aptamers are created by replacing one nucleotide close to the protein-binding site in the aptamer sequence with a fluorescent nucleotide analog, which generates significant increase in fluorescence upon binding to thrombin. The signaling aptamer was linked to a DNA tile designed to self-assemble into 2-dimensional DNA arrays with periodic spacing between neighboring aptamers. The high local density of the signaling aptamers displayed on the self-assembled DNA arrays allowed us to detect low concentration of protein bound to the arrays using confocal fluorescence microscope imaging.