Biointegrative information processing systems offer a great advantage to autonomous biodevices, as their capacity for biological computation provides the ability to sense the state of more complex environments and better integrate with downstream biological regulation systems. Deoxyribozymes (DNAzymes) and aptamers are of interest to such computational biosensing systems due to the enzymatic properties of DNAzymes and the ligand-inducible conformational structures of aptamers. Herein, we describe a novel method for providing ligand-responsive allosteric control to a DNAzyme using an RNA aptamer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeoxyribozymes (DNAzymes) have demonstrated a significant capacity for biocomputing and hold promise for information processing within advanced biological devices if several key capabilities are developed. One required capability is reuse-having DNAzyme logic gates be cyclically, and controllably, activated and deactivated. We designed an oligonucleotide-based system for DNAzyme reuse that could (1) remove previously bound inputs by addition of complementary oligonucleotides via toe-hold mediated binding and (2) diminish output signal through the addition of quencher-labeled oligonucleotides complementary to the fluorophore-bound substrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreased understanding of the molecular components involved in reproduction may assist in understanding the evolutionary adaptations used by animals, including hermaphrodites, to produce offspring and retain a continuation of their lineage. In this study, we focus on the Mediterranean snail, Theba pisana, a hermaphroditic land snail that has become a highly invasive pest species within agricultural areas throughout the world. Our analysis of T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF