Scientists have transformed RNA, a biological molecule present in all living cells, into a biosensor that can detect tiny chemicals relevant to human health. Research by Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientists centers on RNA, a nucleic acid that plays a crucial role in most cellular processes. Their work is expected to have applications in the surveillance of environmental chemicals and, ultimately, the diagnosis of critical diseases including neurological and cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
“Imagine that people will go to the hospital and give a sample of cells from their own bodies for regular check-ups,” said Enver Cagri Izgu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and the corresponding author of the study. “And there will be some technology involved in transforming their cells into sensor cells without changing their frame and physiology. Those cells would then be returned to the person’s body, and the body will never have the issue of rejecting because it’s their own cells. Those cells will have the ability to talk to us and generate signals about whether we have traces of toxic chemicals or the beginnings of disease within us.”
In the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Izgu and his team reported how they implemented RNA within bacterial cells in such a way that these cells, and even their daughter cells, were able to detect distinct chemicals. Such substances to be detected can be short-lived inorganic chemicals central to many physiological processes, both in healthy and disease states. RNA normally would not interact with these types of chemicals, and it would be exceedingly challenging to sense them through complex genetic circuits. To read the full story.