Tetraplex formation of surface-immobilized human telomere sequence probed by surface plasmon resonance using single-stranded DNA binding protein

Abstract

Many sequences in genomic DNA are able to form unique tetraplex structures. Such structures are involved in a variety of important cellular processes and are emerging as a new class of therapeutic targets for cancers and other diseases. Screening for molecules targeting the tetraplex structure has been explored using such sequences immobilized on solid surfaces. Immobilized nucleic acids, in certain situations, may better resemble the molecules under in vivo conditions. In this report, we studied the formation of tetraplex structure of both the G-rich and C-rich strands of surface-immobilized human telomere sequence by surface plasmon resonance using the single-stranded DNA binding protein from Escherichia coli as probe. We demonstrate how the formation of G-quadruplex and i-motif could be probed under various conditions by this sequence-universal method. Our results also show that immobilization destabilized the tetraplex structure.