Part:BBa_K3408003

Switch RNA(of toehold)

The switch RNA contains the coding sequence of the regulated gene. The upstream of the coding sequence is a hairpin structure which contains RBS, the start codon and a common 21nt-linker sequence. The 5' end of the hairpin provides a binding site for the trigger RNA. The binding of the trigger RNA to an unpaired toehold sequence of the switch hairpin allows for a branch migration process, exposing the start codon and ribosome binding site for translation initiation.

We used the toxin protein gene mazF as the suicide gene, when trigger RNA binds to the switch RNA, MazF protein will be expressed to kill bacteria.