Figure 1.

Schematic description of growing structural and functional complexity of aptamer involvements into nucleic acid nanotechnology. Fluorescently labeled aptamers that are specific to cell receptors can be used for cell detection. Their interactions with receptors often result in modulation of the receptor signaling. Later development led to the design of aptamer chimeras, where aptamers deliver the functional RNA or DNA moieties to target cells. Inclusion of aptamers to NANPs enhances the combinatorial applications of aptamers in changing cellular pathways and allowing for NANPs to logically respond to the presence of key triggers. In addition, light-up aptamers are potentially suitable reporters of NANP assembly or real-time monitoring of mutual interactions of NANPs in vivo. One of the future applications of aptamers in NANP technology could be a transport of NANPs to cell vesicles or viral vectors that would be mediated by aptamers targeted to vesicle- or virus-specific proteins.