NUCLEIC ACID LIGANDS WITH INTRAMOLECULAR DUPLEXES

摘要

The present invention provides methods and reagents for obtaining nucleic acid ligands by the SELEX process. In particular, the present invention provides methods and reagents for obtaining nucleic acid ligands of general composition 5' A-L-AI 31, wherein L forms the target-binding region of the nucleic acid ligand, and wherein sequence A is complementary in sequence to sequence A', such that A and A' are capable of forming an intramolecular duplex. The nucleic acid ligands of the invention are obtained by performing the SELEX process or the photoSELEX process using a candidate mixture of nucleic acids, each nucleic acid in the candidate mixture comprising the sequence 51 A-R-A' 3', wherein R is a region of at least partially-randomized sequence.