Small molecule contaminants pose a significant threat to the environment and human health. While regulations are in place for allowed limits in many countries, detection and remediation of contaminants in more resource-limited settings and everyday environmental sources remains a challenge. Functional nucleic acids, including aptamers and DNA enzymes, have emerged as powerful options for addressing this challenge due to their ability to non-covalently interact with small molecule targets. The goal of this perspective is to outline recent efforts toward the selection of aptamers for small molecules and describe their subsequent implementation for environmental applications. Finally, we provide an outlook that addresses barriers that hinder these technologies from being widely adopted in field friendly settings and propose a path forward toward addressing these challenges.

中文翻译：

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对抗小分子环境污染物：使用功能核酸进行检测和封存

小分子污染物对环境和人类健康构成重大威胁。尽管许多国家/地区都制定了允许限制的法规，但在资源更加有限的环境和日常环境来源中检测和修复污染物仍然是一个挑战。功能性核酸（包括适体和 DNA 酶）由于能够与小分子靶标非共价相互作用，已成为应对这一挑战的有力选择。这一视角的目标是概述最近为小分子适配体选择所做的努力，并描述其随后在环境应用中的实施。最后，我们提供了一个展望，解决了阻碍这些技术在现场友好环境中广泛采用的障碍，并提出了解决这些挑战的前进道路。