SELEX and aptamers (in vitro evolution of nucleic acids)
SELEX y aptámeros (evolución in vitro de ácidos nucleicos)
- Date
- 1990 · confidence high
- Place
- University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States
- Credited to
- Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk; Andrew Ellington and Jack Szostak
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sequences of RNA or DNA from a library of trillions that bind best to a target are amplified and selected by repeated cycles, in a process called SELEX. The resulting nucleic acids (aptamers) recognise proteins and small molecules with antibody-like affinity.
Tuerk and Gold (Boulder, Science) and Ellington and Szostak (Massachusetts General Hospital, Nature) published independently in August 1990; priority is shared between the two groups.
What it led to
- pegaptanib (Macugen), the first approved therapeutic aptamer (2004)
- aptamer biosensors and diagnostics
- in vitro selected catalytic RNA and RNA-world research