Abstract
Riboswitches and toehold switches are considered to have potential for implementation in various fields, i.e., biosensing, metabolic engineering, and molecular diagnostics. The specific binding, programmability, and manipulability of these RNA-based molecules enable their intensive deployments in molecular detection as biosensors for regulating gene expressions, tracking metabolites, or detecting RNA sequences of pathogenic microorganisms. In this review, we will focus on the development of riboswitches and toehold switches in biosensing and molecular diagnostics. This review introduces the operating principles and the notable design features of riboswitches as well as toehold switches. Moreover, we will describe the advances and future directions of riboswitches and toehold switches in biosensing and molecular diagnostics.
Highlights
In addition to the regulatory applications, the RNA-based regulatory system, riboswitches and toehold switches, has attracted scientific interest to develop systems for molecular detection applications as biosensing and molecular diagnostics [1,2]
The conversion from an in vivo cell-based into an in vitro cell-free system [22,23,24], the reduction in the reaction volumes [17,25,26], and the deployment of synthetic toehold switches [17,18] are some of the vital improvements, which allow the invention of an innovative molecular diagnostic method to approach the ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and Robust, Equipment-Free, Deliverable) criteria established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for applications in remote regions with depleted resources [27]
The intensive progress has led to their utilities in a variety of fields from metabolic engineering, synthetic biology to molecular diagnostics
Summary
In addition to the regulatory applications, the RNA-based regulatory system, riboswitches and toehold switches, has attracted scientific interest to develop systems for molecular detection applications as biosensing and molecular diagnostics [1,2]. The conversion from an in vivo cell-based into an in vitro cell-free system [22,23,24], the reduction in the reaction volumes [17,25,26], and the deployment of synthetic toehold switches [17,18] are some of the vital improvements, which allow the invention of an innovative molecular diagnostic method to approach the ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and Robust, Equipment-Free, Deliverable) criteria established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for applications in remote regions with depleted resources [27]. We describe the advancements and future directions of these tools in molecular detection
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
