title: Aptamers and small molecules play tug of war.
abstract: Recently, aptamers began to emerge as therapeutics. In this issue of Chemistry & Biology, Famulok and colleagues [1] present a twist on this concept, using an enzyme-inhibiting aptamer as a tool to screen for small molecules that block HIV replication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3Z5, Canada.
authors.forename: Casey C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: Yingfu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D006678:HIV / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors