Liquid–liquid extraction of enzymatically synthesized functional RNA oligonucleotides using reverse micelles with a DNA-surfactant

Abstract

We successfully implemented solvent extraction of short, single-stranded RNA using reverse micelles (water-in-oil microemulsions) with a DNA-surfactant. A thrombin-binding RNA aptamer was enzymatically synthesized and purified by extraction using the reverse micellar system. The extracted RNA aptamer retained thrombin-binding activity after the extraction procedure.