Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands

Abstract

Subpopulations of RNA molecules that bind specifically to a variety of organic dyes have been isolated from a population of random sequence RNA molecules. Roughly one in 1010 random sequence RNA molecules folds in such a way as to create a specific binding site for small ligands.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Cech, T. R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 4360–4363 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Orgel, L. E. J. theor. Biol. 123, 127–149 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Benner, S. A., Ellington, A. D. & Tauer, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 7054–7058 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Thompson, R. T., Cass, K. H. & Stellwagen, E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 669–672 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Arnold, F. H., Schofield, S. A. & Blanch, H. W. J. Chromat. 355, 1–12 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Couture, S. et al. J. molec. Biol. (in the press).

  7. Aruffo, A. & Seed, B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 8573–8577 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Scharf, S. J., Horn, G. T. & Erlich, H. A. Science 233, 1076–1078 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Devereux, J., Haeberli, P. & Smithies, O. Nucleic Acids Res. 12, 387–395 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ellington, A., Szostak, J. In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands. Nature 346, 818–822 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/346818a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/346818a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing