key: cord-0760611-e6ylreby
authors: Zhang, Zijie; Li, Jiuxing; Gu, Jimmy; Amini, Ryan; Stacey, Hannah D.; Ang, Jann C.; White, Dawn; Filipe, Carlos D. M.; Mossman, Karen; Miller, Matthew S.; Salena, Bruno J.; Yamamura, Deborah; Sen, Payel; Soleymani, Leyla; Brennan, John D.; Li, Yingfu
title: A Universal DNA Aptamer that Recognizes Spike Proteins of Diverse SARS‐CoV‐2 Variants of Concern
date: 2022-02-26
journal: Chemistry
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202200524
sha: 348b546c7a22367fbe20ab3f64536d27b67dc206
doc_id: 760611
cord_uid: e6ylreby

Invited for the cover of this issue are John Brennan, Yingfu Li, and co‐workers at McMaster University. The image depicts MSA52 as a universal DNA aptamer that recognizes spike proteins of diverse SARS‐CoV‐2 variants of concern. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202200078.

What was the inspiration for this cover design?

The cover design takes three factors into consideration. First, the unique DNA aptamer MSA52 displays au niversally high affinityf or the spike proteins of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants, which are assigned red, green, and blue colors for the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants with relatively fewer mutations, and the combination of red, green, and blue colors for the Omicron variant that has significantly more mutations. Second, the MSA52 aptamer,w hich adopts au nique four-way junction stem-loop structure, is depicted as a three-finger clamp for chelating the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of trimeric spike proteins. Third, the background green fluorescence signals the binding event between the aptamer MSA52 and the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Besides the research featured in this paper on the selection of a universal aptamer for SARS-CoV-2 variants, we are also working on designing biosensors with functional nucleic acids, specifically DNA aptamers and DNAzymes, with ag oal to achieve rapid point-ofcare testing for infectious agents such as SARS-CoV-2. For example, we are developing lateral flow test strips and portable electrochemical chips with dimeric and multimeric aptamers that recog-nize SARS-CoV-2 viruses in easily accessible biological samples such as saliva. We believe such rapid and cost-effective tests are needed for the detection of viral or bacterial pathogens that pose significant threats to human health.

Yingfu Li, and co-workers at McMaster University.T he image depicts MSA52 as au niversal DNA aptamer that recognizes spike proteinso fd iverse SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern