Mechanism and design of <i>Sox2</i> mRNA-specific MB.

<p>(A) Opening of the <i>Sox2</i>-MB is induced in the cytoplasm of cells expressing <i>Sox2</i> and emission of Cy3 fluorescence is detected. In contrast, <i>Sox2</i>-MB remains in the hairpin conformation in the cytoplasm of <i>Sox2</i> negative cells, and no emission of Cy3 fluorescence is detected. (B) The sequences of the designed <i>Sox2</i>-MBs and the non-specific-MB. (C) The sequences of the synthesized oligonucleotides complementary to the loop sequence of each <i>Sox2</i>-MB. (D) The <i>Sox2</i>-MBs were mixed with or without its target sequence and the Cy3-fluorescence was detected with microplate reader. A difference was seen in all of the designed <i>Sox2</i>-MBs between when the target sequence was present or not. Error bars represent the mean ± SEM. Asterisks denote statistical significance (n = 3 samples, ^***<i>p</i><0.001).