DNA-based enzymes, or DNAzymes, are single-stranded DNA sequences with the ability to catalyze various chemical reactions, including the cleavage of the bond between two RNA nucleotides. Lately, an increasing interest has been observed in these RNA-cleaving DNAzymes in the biosensing and therapeutic fields for signal generation and the modulation of gene expression, respectively. Additionally, multiple efforts have been made to study the effects of the reaction environment and the sequence of the catalytic core on the conversion of the substrate into product. However, most of these studies have only reported alterations of the general reaction course, but only a few have focused on how each individual reaction step is affected. In this work, we present for the first time a mathematical model that describes and predicts the reaction of the 10-23 RNA-cleaving DNAzyme. Furthermore, the model has been employed to study the effect of temperature, magnesium cations and shorter substrate-binding arms of the DNAzyme on the different kinetic rate constants, broadening the range of conditions in which the model can be exploited. In conclusion, this work depicts the prospects of such mathematical models to study and anticipate the course of a reaction given a particular environment.
Keywords: RNA-cleaving DNAzymes; mathematical modeling; reaction kinetics.