Evolution and characterization of a benzylguanine-binding RNA aptamer

Repurposing the "protein-labeling toolkit" for RNA research could be a pragmatic approach for developing new RNA-labeling methods. We have evolved an RNA aptamer that tightly binds benzylguanine (bG), the key ligand for the protein SNAP-tag. The aptamer tightly binds bG fluorophores and can be purified from cellular RNA with bG agarose under native conditions.