XNA enzymes by evolution and design

The last decade has witnessed tremendous growth in the field of synthetic genetics, an area of synthetic biology that applies concepts that are commonly associated with the field of genetics, such as heredity and evolution, to artificial genetic polymers with novel backbone structures (XNAs). In addition to the emergence of biologically stable affinity reagents (aptamers), progress in this area has led to the discovery of XNA enzymes (XNAzymes) that are capable of mediating transphosphorylation chemistry with multiple turnover activity. This review explores the evolution and rational design of XNAzymes as well as their potential as reagents in biomedical applications.