title: Nucleic acid molecular switches.
abstract: Natural and artificial ribozymes can catalyse a diverse range of chemical reactions. Through recent efforts in enzyme engineering, it has become possible to tailor the activity of ribozymes to respond allosterically to specific effector compounds. These allosteric ribozymes function as effector-dependent molecular switches that could find application as novel genetic-control elements, biosensor components or precision switches for use in nanotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208103, New Haven, CT 06520-8103, USA. garrett.soukup@yale.edu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Soukup
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Breaker
mesh_terms: D000494:Allosteric Regulation; D001483:Base Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA