Department of Chemistry and Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology (KoRS‐CB), University of Konstanz, Universit?tsstrasse 10, 78457 Konstanz (Germany), Fax: (+49)?7531‐885‐140 http://www.uni‐konstanz.de/FuF/chemie/jhartig
Abstract:
RNA Lego : The use of natural riboswitch aptamers in synthetic RNA switches (see picture) should broaden the scope of artificial RNA regulators dramatically. It is shown that thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) aptamers can be used in engineered devices as very sensitive switches of gene expression in unmodified organisms. The approach demonstrates that intrinsic metabolites can be utilized as external effectors of cellular functions.
