Fluorometry studies of aptamers that bind intrinsically fluorescent ligands: techniques, obstacles and optimizations

Intrinsic fluorescence analysis is a sensitive technique to gain insight about aptamer-small molecule interactions.Employing fluorescence properties of the ligand, the binding affinities of the aptamer-ligand complex can be quantified in the nM to mM range with great accuracy and precision. Here, we present a detection method for aptamer-ligand binding analysis that is based on the inherent fluorescence of the ligand. Further, we discuss how to optimize and resolve some common experimental challenges.