Four-stranded nucleic acids: structure, function and targeting of G-quadruplexes

• Published in: Chemical Society reviews Vol. 37; no. 7; pp. 1375 - 1384
• Main Author: Huppert, Julian Leon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.07.2008
• Subjects: Acridines; Base Pairing; Binding Sites; chemical interactions; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical - methods; G-Quadruplexes; Gene Targeting - methods; genes; guanine; ligands; Nucleic Acid Conformation; nucleic acids; Nucleic Acids - chemistry; Nucleic Acids - genetics; Nucleic Acids - metabolism; Oxazoles; Porphyrins; proteins; Telomerase - antagonists & inhibitors; telomeres; topology; Transcription, Genetic
• ISSN: 0306-0012; 1460-4744; 1460-4744
• DOI: 10.1039/b702491f

There are many structures that can be adopted by nucleic acids other than the famous Watson-Crick duplex form. This tutorial review describes the guanine rich G-quadruplex structure, highlighting the chemical interactions governing its formation, and the topological variants that exist. The methods that are used to study G-quadruplex structures are described, with examples of the information that may be derived from these different methods. Next, the proposed biological functions of G-quadruplexes are discussed, highlighting especially their presence in telomeric regions and gene promoters. G-quadruplex structures are the subject of considerable interest for the development of small-molecule ligands, and are also the targets of a wide variety of natural proteins.