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Structure of Parallel-Stranded Guanine Tetraplexes

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Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology

Part of the book series: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology ((NUCLEIC,volume 9))

Abstract

Oligonucleotides rich in guanine possess a distinctive ability to self-associate, even in the absence of any sequence complementarity of the Watson-Crick kind (see review by Sundquist 1991 in Volume 5 of this Series). At the macroscopic level, this property is manifested in a propensity to form semicrystalline gels, which are even formed by the free guanine mononucleoside. It is now appreciated that this macroscopic property originates from the ability of guanine bases to form base-base interactions through multidentate hydrogen bonding interactions. More than 30 years ago (Geliert et al. 1962), it was proposed that this ability may permit four guanine bases to selfassociate by forming cyclic tetrads (sometimes termed G-quartets). The tetrad arrangement brings four strands together into a quadruple helix, and such structures have been characterised by fibre diffraction studies (Tougard et al. 1973; Arnott et al. 1974; Zimmerman et al. 1975). The tetrad model also explained the observation that proton exchange rates are very slow in guanine gels (Pinnavaia et al. 1975).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRC Nucleic Acid Structure Research Group, Department of Biochemistry, The University, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

    A. I. H. Murchie, F. Aboul-Ela & D. M. J. Lilley

  2. MRC Virology Unit, Church Street, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G11 5JR, UK

    G. Laughlan & B. Luisi

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  1. A. I. H. Murchie
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  2. F. Aboul-Ela
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  3. G. Laughlan
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  4. B. Luisi
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  5. D. M. J. Lilley
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Experimentelle Medizin, Hermann-Rein-Straße 3, 37075, Göttingen, Germany

    Fritz Eckstein

  2. Biochemistry Department, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

    David M. J. Lilley

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Murchie, A.I.H., Aboul-Ela, F., Laughlan, G., Luisi, B., Lilley, D.M.J. (1995). Structure of Parallel-Stranded Guanine Tetraplexes. In: Eckstein, F., Lilley, D.M.J. (eds) Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 9. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79488-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79488-9_7

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