Capillary electrophoresis coupled to systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CE-SELEX) is an improved SELEX technique mainly used to screen aptamers for large molecular targets such as proteins.  For small molecular targets, CE-SELEX results in only partial isolation of target-bound aptamers from the unbound library due to non-observable mobility shifts induced by small-molecule targets.  To address this issue, the author modified the CE-SELEX approach, first by splitting a traditional nucleic acid library into two or three subgroups to reduce the size/molecular weight differences among sequences in the library, followed by incubating each sub-library with the target molecule.  The modified CE-SELEX method allows the isolation of aptamers with high affinity and selectivity that are otherwise buried in the original unbound library peak, thus increasing the suitability of CE-SELEX for screening aptamers for small-molecule targets.

Modifying conventional CE-SELEX to improve the screening of aptamers for small-molecule targets

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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