Patent ID: 8865667

Claim:
A signal processing device for modulating the expression of a gene product depending on the presence or absence of ligands, the device comprising an RNA comprising: (1) a coding sequence for the gene product; (2) two or more aptamer-regulated polynucleotides, each said aptamer-regulated polynucleotides comprising at least one aptamer domain and an actuator domain, wherein each of said aptamer domain binds one ligand, and each of said actuator domain(s) has a functional activity that affects the expression of the gene product, wherein at least one of said aptamer-regulated polynucleotides further comprises: (3) an information transmission domain not overlapping with said actuator domain, said information transmission domain comprising: (a) a general transmission region, (b) a switching strand, (c) a competing strand, wherein the switching strand and the competing strand compete to bind to the general transmission region through hybridization interactions, wherein binding of said aptamer domains by their respective ligands favors a conformation change in the actuator domain through a strand-displacement mechanism; and, wherein said conformation change modulates said functional activity, thereby affecting the expression of the gene product.