Issue 7, 2008

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

Abstract

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.

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

Article information

Article type
Tutorial Review
Submitted
26 Feb 2008
First published
06 May 2008

Chem. Soc. Rev., 2008,37, 1375-1384

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

J. L. Huppert, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2008, 37, 1375 DOI: 10.1039/B702491F

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