2024年3月29日 星期五

Formation of DNA: RNA Hybrid G-Quadruplex in Bacterial Cells and Its Dominance over the Intramolecular DNA G-Quadruplex in Mediating Transcription Termination

DNA with four guanine tracts can fold into G-quadruplexes that are targets of transcription regulation. We recently found that hybridDNA:RNA G-quadruplexes (HQs) can form during in vitro transcription. However, it is unclear whether they can form in cells. Evidence is presented supporting their formation in plasmids in bacterialcells. The formation of the HQs is indicated by a unique pattern of prematurely terminated transcripts under two conditions where the RNA transcripts do or do not participate in G-quadruplex assembly and further supported by a number of chemical and biochemical analysis. HQs dominate over the intramolecularDNA G-quadruplexes (DQ) in mediating the transcriptiontermination when both structures are able to form. These findings provide the first evidence of HQ formation in cells and suggest that the competition/conversion between HQ and DQ may regulate transcription and serve as drug target in pharmaceutical applications.

Wu RY, Zheng KW, Zhang JY, Hao YH, Tan Z*. (2015) Formation of DNA: RNA Hybrid G-Quadruplex in Bacterial Cells and Its Dominance over the Intramolecular DNA G-Quadruplex in Mediating Transcription Termination. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 54(8):2447-2451.