Nucleic acid ligands
AssigneeUniversity Research Corporation
InventorsLarry Gold, Craig Tuerk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A new class of nucleic acid compounds, referred to as nucleic acid ligands, have been shown to exist that have a specific binding affinity for three dimensional molecular targets. In a preferred embodiment the nucleic acid ligands are identified by the method of the invention referred to as the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX), wherein a candidate mixture of nucleic acids are iteratively enriched in high affinity nucleic acids and amplified for further partitioning.
Claims43
A non-naturally occurring nucleic acid ligand having a specific binding affinity for a target molecule, such target molecule being a three dimensional chemical structure other than a polynucleotide that binds to said nucleic acid ligand through a mechanism which predominantly depends on Watson/Crick base pairing or triple helix binding, wherein said nucleic acid ligand is not a nucleic acid having the known physiological function of being bound by the target molecule, wherein said target molecule is a protein selected from the group consisting of nucleic acid polymerase, bacteriophage coat protein, serine protease, mammalian receptor, mammalian hormone, mammalian growth factor, ribosomal protein, and viral rev protein.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.