Development of Fluorescent Ribonucleopeptide-Based Sensors for Biologically Active Amines

Development of functional biomacromolecules is essential for a sustainable energy technology that is based on the principle of energy-utilization and energy-transformation pathways in the living systems. Though there still remain technological barriers, use of biomacromolecules for energy-utilization and transformation will contribute to realize a society that would be harmless to the nature. Biosensor transduces a binding event between a “reporter” and its target ligand into an optical signal, thereby enables monitoring the interaction of biologically active ligands such as amines. Previously, we have established the strategy for the construction of receptors and biosensors based on ribonucleopeptide (RNP) scaffold. RNP receptors that bind to a specific target molecule were constructed by the combination of RNA aptamer technology with the Rev Responsive Element (RRE)-HIV Rev peptide complex. Modification of Rev peptide with a fluorophore enables construction of histamine-binding fluorescent RNP library. Eventually, RNP sensors for histamine that show higher selectivity to histamine over histamine analogs included imidazole, ethylamine and l-histidine were identified through the screening of the histamine-binding fluorescent RNP library.