Preparation of RNA for in vitro experiments

The dsDNAs for T7 transcription of RNA aptamers were PCR amplified using the recombinant pUC19 plasmid as a template, with T7 primer [5′-GCT AAT ACG ACT CAC TAT AGG GAT CCA AGC TTG T-3′], and reverse primer [5′-GAA TTC TCC GTC GAA AG-3′]. RNAs were transcribed from the dsDNA templates using T7 RNA polymerase from T7 MegaScript Kit (Ambion^®) and purified using a NAP-5 column to remove unincorporated NTPs as described above.