An Intramolecular G-Quadruplex Structure Is Required for Binding of Telomeric Repeat-Containing RNA to the Telomeric Protein TRF2

作者：Biffi Giulia; Tannahill David; Balasubramanian Shankar^*

来源：Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012, 134(29): 11974-11976.

DOI：10.1021/ja305734x

Telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) is important for telomere regulation, but the structural basis for how TERRA localizes to chromosome ends is unknown. Here we report on studies exploring whether the TERRA G-quadruplex structure is critical for binding to telomeres. We demonstrate that the telomeric protein TRF2 binds TERRA via interactions that necessitate the formation of a G-quadruplex structure rather than the TERRA sequence per se. We also show that TRF2 simultaneously binds TERRA and telomeric duplex or G-quadruplex DNA. These observations suggest that the TERRA G-quadruplex is a key feature of telomere organization.

• 出版日期2012-7-25