title: Aptazyme-based riboswitches and logic gates in mammalian cells.
abstract: This chapter describes a screening strategy to engineer synthetic riboswitches that can chemically regulate gene expression in mammalian cells. Riboswitch libraries are constructed by randomizing the key nucleotides that couple the molecular recognition function of an aptamer with the self-cleavage activity of a ribozyme. The allosteric ribozyme (aptazyme) candidates are cloned in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of a reporter gene mRNA. The plasmid-encoded riboswitch candidates are transfected into a mammalian cell line to screen for the desired riboswitch function. Furthermore, multiple aptazymes can be cloned into the 3' UTR of a desired gene to obtain a logic gate response to multiple chemical signals. This screening strategy complements other methods to engineer robust mammalian riboswitches to control gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, 451 Health Sciences Drive, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokobayashi
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D002460:Cell Line; D015870:Gene Expression; D015723:Gene Library; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D058928:Riboswitch / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D058928:Riboswitch