Formation and recognition of G-quadruplex relevant for pilin antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Abstract

In this research, NMR, ESI-MS, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies were used to investigate the formation and recognition of G-quadruplex by a G-rich sequence that has been demonstrated to be relevant for pilin variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae . The NMR spectra provided strong evidence that the G-quadruplex structure was formed from this G-rich sequence, and this result was confirmed by CD spectroscopy. In addition, two small-molecule natural products (jatrorrhizine hydrochloride (J) and dehydrocorydaline (D)) were found to bind to this G-quadruplex over the corresponding duplex DNA with high selectivity by ESI-MS.