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A new paper in Nucleic Acids Research presents high-resolution structure of two-quartet kit* G-quadruplex originating from a promoter region of c-KIT proto-oncogene. kit* might have an important role in regulation of c-KIT transcription, since it contains consensus sites for transcription factors and folds into G-quadruplex much faster compared to neighboring G-rich regions.
For more information read the original paper: here
14. 3. 2019
Our latest paper published in Angew. Chem. presents thermodynamics data on AGCGA-quadruplexes that differentiate this structural family from the other structures of DNA. It has been reported recently that G-rich DNA oligonucleotides may adopt besides the well-known G-quadruplexes another type of noncanonical structures called AGCGA-quadruplexes. This unique DNA fold is stabilized by hydrophobic desolvation which is similar to the double-stranded B-type DNA, but in contrast to G-quadruplexes, also by specific binding of water molecules. Compared to B-DNA, VK2 folding is enthalpically less favorable due to poorer base-stacking interactions resulting in substantial conformational flexibility. This entropicaly favorable conformational flexibility stabilizes the AGCGA-quadruplexes. In conclusion, we show that AGCGA-quadruplexes have a distinguishing thermodynamic fingerprint and that the corresponding driving forces enabling their folding are consistent with the observed structural features.
25. 2. 2019
Congratulations to Jasna for winning the outstanding award, Maks Samec prize for doctoral thesis in the field of Biochemistry, and recognition of her doctoral thesis obtained from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana.
15. 2. 2019
Oxidative stress has a detrimental effect on G-rich telomeric regions. A new paper in Journal of the American Chemical Society presents how oxidative changes at specific sites in the DNA sequence result in either minor or major structural rearrangements of the human telomeric G-quadruplex.
Read the full article here