DNA-RNA hybrid G-quadruplex tends to form near the 3' end of telomere overhang.

ABSTRACT: Telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) has been suggested to participate in telomere maintenance. TERRA consisting of UUAGGG repeats is capable of forming an intermolecular G-quadruplex (GQ) with single-stranded TTAGGG-repeat DNA in the telomere 3' overhang. To explore the structural features and potential functions of this DNA-RNA hybrid GQ (HGQ), we used single-molecule FRET to study the folding patterns of DNA with four to seven telomeric tandem repeats annealed with a short RNA consisting of two or five telomeric repeats. Our data highlight that RNA prefers to form DNA-RNA HGQ near the 3' end of telomeric DNA. Furthermore, the unfolding of secondary structures by a complementary C-rich sequence was observed for DNA GQ but not for DNA-RNA HGQ, which demonstrated the enhanced stability

SUBMITTER: Choi BE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9388385 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature