Quantitative selection and parallel characterization of aptamers

Abstract

Significance The comprehensive functional mapping of the human proteome will require access to high-quality affinity reagents that specifically bind to their respective proteins with high affinities. Unfortunately, currently available antibodies can only target a small fraction of the proteome, and their affinity and specificity can vary considerably for each protein. Thus there is an urgent need for novel technologies capable of generating alternative, synthetic affinity reagents in a scalable and economical manner. Toward this end, we report a unique screening system (termed the “Quantitative Parallel Aptamer Selection System”) that can accelerate discovery of high-quality aptamer reagents by enabling simultaneous measurements of binding affinity ( K d ) and specificity for thousands of aptamers in parallel.