title: Investigation of low-energy proton effects on aptamer performance for astrobiological applications.
abstract: Biochips are promising instruments for the search for organic molecules in planetary environments. Nucleic acid aptamers are powerful affinity receptors known for their high affinity and specificity, and therefore are of great interest for space biochip development. A wide variety of aptamers have already been selected toward targets of astrobiological interest (from amino acids to microorganisms). We present a first study to test the resistance of these receptors to the constraints of the space environment. The emphasis is on the effect of cosmic rays on the molecular recognition properties of DNA aptamers. Experiments on beam-line facilities have been conducted with 2 MeV protons and fluences much higher than expected for a typical mission to Mars. Our results show that this irradiation process did not affect the performances of DNA aptamers as molecular recognition tools.
authors: Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron-IBMM, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Montpellier, Unité Mixte de Recherche, France.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Baqué
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Le Postollec
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Ravelet
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Peyrin
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Coussot
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Desvignes
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Incerti
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Moretto
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Dobrijevic
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Vandenabeele-Trambouze
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D018559:Exobiology / Q000379:methods; D019793:Fluorescein / Q000528:radiation effects; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000528:radiation effects; D005612:Freeze Drying; D011522:Protons
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D011522:Protons; D019793:Fluorescein