Interaction of Proteins with Inverted Repeats and Cruciform Structures in Nucleic Acids.

ABSTRACT: Cruciforms occur when inverted repeat sequences in double-stranded DNA adopt intra-strand hairpins on opposing strands. Biophysical and molecular studies of these structures confirm their characterization as four-way junctions and have demonstrated that several factors influence their stability, including overall chromatin structure and DNA supercoiling. Here, we review our understanding of processes that influence the formation and stability of cruciforms in genomes, covering the range of sequences shown to have biological significance. It is challenging to accurately sequence repetitive DNA sequences, but recent advances in sequencing methods have deepened understanding about the amounts of inverted repeats in genomes from all forms of life. We highlight that, in the majority of genomes,

SUBMITTER: Bowater RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9180970 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature