Riboswitches: From living biosensors to novel targets of antibiotics

Riboswitches are generally located in 5′-UTR region of mRNAs and specifically bind small ligands. Following ligand binding, gene expression is controlled mostly by transcription termination, translation inhibition or mRNA degradation processes. More than 30 classes of known riboswitches have been identified by now. Most riboswitches consist of an aptamer domain and an expression platform. The aptamer domain of each class of riboswitch is a conserved structure and stabilizes specific structures of the expression platforms through binding to specific compounds. In this review, we are highlighting most aspects of riboswitch research including the novel riboswitch discoveries, routine methods for discovering and investigating riboswitches along with newly discovered classes and mechanistic principles of riboswitch-mediated gene expression control. Moreover, we will give an overview about the potential of riboswitches as therapeutic targets for antibiotic design and also their utilization as biosensors for molecular detection. •Riboswitches are natural RNA biosensor for metabolites located in 5′UTR of mRNA.•Riboswitch regulates genes by transcription/translation termination or mRNA degradation.•Riboswitches are potential templates to design artificial RNA switches and biosensors.•Riboswitches are interesting drug targets to design new antibiotics.