Aptamer
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any subsequence of nucleic acid, selected from a large random sequence-pool, used to bind to a specific target molecule.
"Aptamers are oligomers of RNA or DNA that spontaneously fold into specific three-dimensional shapes that can bind defined targets. The specificity of the shape of the binding site arises from the base sequence of the aptamer, which determines the base-pairing pattern of the oligomer."
Example
More examples"Aptamers are oligomers of RNA or DNA that spontaneously fold into specific three-dimensional shapes that can bind defined targets. The specificity of the shape of the binding site arises from the base sequence of the aptamer, which determines the base-pairing pattern of the oligomer."
Etymology
From Latin aptus (“apt, proper”) + -mer (from Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part, portion”); compare mero-).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.