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Effect of a modified thymine on the structure and stability of [d(TGGGT)]4 quadruplex

Overview of Petraccone L et al.

AuthorsPetraccone L  Erra E  Nasti L  Galeone A  Randazzo A  Mayol L  Barone G  Giancola C  
AffiliationDipartimento di Chimica   Via Cintia   Università Federico II di Napoli   Monte Sant' Angelo   80126 Naples   Italy.  
JournalInt J Biol Macromol
Year 2003

Abstract


Telomeric guanine-rich sequence can adopt quadruplex structures that are important for their biological role in chromosomal stabilisation. G quartets are characterised by the cyclic hydrogen bonding of four guanine bases in a coplanar arrangement and their stability is ion-dependent. In this work we compare the stability of [d(TGGGT)](4) and [d(T*GGGT)](4) quadruplexes. The last one contains a modified thymine, where the hydroxyl group substitutes one hydrogen atom of the methyl group of the thymine in the [d(TGGGT)](4) sequence. We used a combination of spectroscopic, calorimetric and computational techniques to characterise the G-quadruplex formation. NMR and CD spectra of [d(T*GGGT)](4) were characteristic of parallel-stranded, tetramolecular quadruplex. CD and DSC melting experiments reveal that [d(T*GGGT)](4) is less stable that unmodified quadruplex. Molecular models suggest possible explanation for the observed behaviour.