Aptamer-Based Strategies to Address Challenges in COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatments

Figure 2

SARS-CoV-2 structure and the targets of aptamers in the detection and therapeutic of COVID-19. (a) Schematic diagram of the SARS-CoV-2 structure: The membrane, envelope, and spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are embedded in the viral envelope, which contains the viral RNA coiled with the N proteins. The trimeric spike protein can be divided into S1 and S2. The S1 consists of the RBD responsible for host receptor binding. (b) Schematic diagram of aptamer-based detection: spike proteins and nucleocapsid proteins are the main targets for COVID-19 detection. The aptamers recognizing these proteins have been biotinylated to attach to a biotin-modified surface using streptavidin to develop optical aptasensors for COVID-19 diagnostics. (c) Schematic diagram of aptamer blocking therapeutic strategy: the key elements involved in the viral entry pathway such as spike protein and host ACE2 protein are the interesting targets of therapeutic aptamers for COVID-19.

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