Engineered toehold reactions and networks
US8110353B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 4, 2008 |
| Grant date | Feb 7, 2012 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 3, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S977/941
- WIPO fieldBiotechnology
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A catalytic system and method of catalyzing reactions that uses a novel toehold exchange mechanism that allows a specified input to catalyze the release of a specified output, which in turn can serve as a catalyst for other reactions is provided. This toehold exchange catalyst system, which can be driven forward by the configurational entropy of the released molecule, provides an amplifying circuit element that is simple, fast, modular, composable, and robust. Using this toehold exchange catalyst system it has been possible to construct and characterize several circuits that amplify nucleic acid signals, including a feed-forward cascade with quadratic kinetics and a positive feedback circuit with exponential growth kinetics.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.