Materials and methods for rapid and specific detection of cocaine
AssigneeThe Florida International University Board of Trustees
InventorsDaniel Roncancio, Haixiang Yu, Xiaowen Xu, Yi Xiao
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Abstract
The invention pertains to a rapid and specific aptamer-based method for one-step cocaine detection with minimal reagent requirements based on an aptamer sensor that reports the presence of cocaine via the displacement and unquenching of a bound fluorophore molecule. In certain embodiments, the invention provides novel aptamers, which have reduced background fluorescence, bind a fluorophore molecule tightly, and show an increased signal gain in the presence of cocaine.
Claims18
An aptamer that binds both cocaine and 2-amino-5,6,7-trimethyl-1,8-naphthyridine (ATMND), wherein said aptamer is derived from MNS-4.1, wherein said derivation comprises the conversion of at least one non-canonical base pair to a Watson-Crick base pair, wherein the aptamer is not modified at either the T21 or the A23 position relative to MNS-4.1, wherein said aptamer has increased stability, and wherein said aptamer binds cocaine more strongly than ATMND.
A cooperative-binding split aptamer (CBSA) derived from two molecules of MNS-4.1, the CBSA having a short and a long fragment, wherein the aptamer comprises two cocaine binding domains and an ATMND-binding site when the short and long fragment associate in the presence of cocaine;
- wherein cocaine binding to a first cocaine binding domain greatly increases the affinity of the second cocaine binding domain;
- wherein the CBSA comprises at least one non-canonical base pair converted to a Watson-Crick base pair;
- wherein the CBSA is not modified at either of the positions corresponding to T21 and A23 of MNS-4.1;
- and wherein the CBSA further comprises at least one additional Watson-Crick base pair added between the two cocaine-binding domains.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.