Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36802167›Full record

ArticleACS synthetic biology2023

Short Activators and Repressors of RNA Toehold Switches.

Megan A McSweeney, Yan Zhang, Mark P Styczynski

Open access · hybridFull text read
In one paragraph

Article in ACS synthetic biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 28% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Synthetic toehold biosensors for detectingFrontiers in microbiology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Megan A McSweeneySchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-5012-3218
Yan ZhangSchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-0719-5456
Mark P StyczynskiSchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-1479-6658
Georgia Institute of Technology · US

Funding

Synthetic biology-based detection of micronutrients with minimal equipmentR01EB022592 · NIBIB · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI STYCZYNSKI, MARK PHILIP-WALTER · 2017 to 2020
$1.4M
NIBIB NIH HHS R01-EB022592
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

RNA toehold switches are a widely used class of molecule to detect specific RNA "trigger" sequences, but their design, intended function, and characterization to date leave it unclear whether they can function properly with triggers shorter than 36 nucleotides. Here, we explore the feasibility of using standard toehold switches with 23-nucleotide truncated triggers. We assess the crosstalk of different triggers with significant homology and identify a highly sensitive trigger region where just one mutation from the consensus trigger sequence can reduce switch activation by 98.6%. However, we also find that triggers with as many as seven mutations outside of this region can still lead to 5-fold induction of the switch. We also present a new approach using 18- to 22-nucleotide triggers as translational repressors for toehold switches and assess the off-target regulation for this strategy as well. The development and characterization of these strategies could help enable applications like microRNA sensors, where well-characterized crosstalk between sensors and detection of short target sequences are critical.

Indexed as

MicroRNAsNucleosidesRNATranscription FactorsMicroRNAsNucleosidesRNATranscription Factorsbiosensorcell-free expressionmicroRNAtoehold switch

Identifiers

PMID36802167
PMCPMC10028691
OpenAlexW4321437674

What OpenQuestion holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
measurements read20
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.