ELISA assays utilizing aptamers for the detection of the NS5 protein of Zika virus

Introduction: The infection caused by the flavivirus Zika (ZIKV) remained as a tropical neglected disease until November 2015, when cases of microcephaly in infants born after a ZIKV epidemic, together with an increase in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome and other neurological disorders were associated with the ZIKV infection. Nonstructural protein 5 (NS5) is essential for replication of the genome, whose RdRp domain synthesizes viral RNA through a de novo synthetic mechanism. Aptamers are single stranded DNA (or RNA) molecules, which bind to a wide range of ligands with high specificity and affinity, and can be used as relevant molecular tools.