Visualization of G-quadruplexes in gel and in live cells by a near-infrared fluorescent probe

July 28, 2017

Title

Visualization of G-quadruplexes in gel and in live cells by a near-infrared fluorescent probe

Author

Fan Wu, Chaoxing Liu, Yuqi Chen, Shixi Yang, Jiahui Xu, Rong Huang, Xiang Wang, Manjia Li, Wenting Liu, Wuxiang Mao, Xiang Zhou

Year

2016

Journal

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

Abstract

G-quadruplexes, one of the most significant secondary structure of nucleic acid, are formed by stacking G quartets, which received broad interests due to their involvement in telomere function, gene transcription and recombination. As for ligand, better selectivity for G-quadruplex against other DNA or RNA structures and higher ability to stabilize G-quadruplex are necessary. In addition, developing a new probe to recognize G-quadruplex is desired for utilizing G-quadruplex structure to relevant biological processes. In this study, we report a Cy5 labelled ligand (named PDP-Cy5) developed as a near-infrared fluorescent ligand for G-quadruplexes both in DNA and RNA. The results indicated that PDP-Cy5 selectively induced the formation of intramolecular G-quadruplexes with strong binding affinity. Furthermore, this Cy5 labelled ligand can effectively stabilize G-quadruplexes. Moreover, the direct visualization of G-quadruplexes in gel, even on cell level is realized by using PDP-Cy5.

Instrument

J-810

Keywords

Circular dichroism, DNA structure, Ligand binding, Materials, Biochemistry