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Nature Biotechnology 27, 288–292 (1 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/nbt.1528

Autocatalytic aptazymes enable ligand-dependent exponential amplification of RNA

Bianca J Lam & Gerald F Joyce

RNA enzymes have been developed that undergo self-sustained replication at a constant temperature in the absence of proteins. These RNA molecules amplify exponentially through a cross-replicative process, whereby two enzymes catalyze each other's synthesis by joining component oligonucleotides.