Chemically modified CRISPR-Cas9 enables targeting of individual G-quadruplex and i-motif structures, revealing ligand-dependent transcriptional perturbation.

ABSTRACT: The development of selective ligands to target DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) and i-motifs (iMs) has revealed their relevance in transcriptional regulation. However, most of these ligands are unable to target individual G4s or iMs in the genome, severely limiting their scope. Herein, we describe a new Approach to Target Exact Nucleic Acid alternative structures (ATENA) that relies on the chemical conjugation of established G4 and iM ligands to a catalytically inactive Cas9 protein (dCas9), enabling their individual targeting in living cells. ATENA demonstrated that the selective targeting of the G4 present in the oncogene c-MYC leads to the suppression of transcripts regulated exclusively by one of its promoters (P1). Conversely, targeting the c-MYC iMs on the opposite strand leads

SUBMITTER: Nuccio SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12330486 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature