The circular dichroism and differential scanning calorimetry study of the properties of DNA aptamer dimers

► We showed that the simple molecular engineering of DNA aptamers sensitive to the thrombin based on hybridization of their supporting part resulted in formation of aptamers dimers that maintain the 3D conformation of the binding site - the guanine quadruplexes. ► The aptamer dimers had higher affinity to the thrombin as it has been demonstrated by their approximately two-fold stronger inhibitory effect on cleavage the fibrinogen by thrombin in comparison with those of canonical monomeric aptamers. ► We showed that the molecular engineering can be used as effective tool for improvement of the aptamer properties.