A small unstructured nucleic acid disrupts a trinucleotide repeat hairpin.

ABSTRACT: A variety of neurodegenerative disorders are associated with the expansion of trinucleotide repeat (TNR) sequences. These repetitive sequences are prone to adopting non-canonical structures, such as intrastrand stem-loop hairpins. Indeed, the formation and persistence of these hairpins during DNA replication and/or repair have been proposed as factors that facilitate TNR expansion. Given this proposed contribution of TNR hairpins to the expansion mechanism, disruption of such structures via strand invasion offers a potential means to negate the disease-initiating expansion. In this work, we investigated the strand invading abilities of a (CTG)(3) unstructured nucleic acid on a (CAG)(10) TNR hairpin. Using fluorescence, optical, and electrophoretic methods, instantaneous disruption of the (

SUBMITTER: Avila-Figueroa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3190016 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature