{"title":"Fundamentals of G-quadruplex biology.","authors":"F Brad Johnson","doi":"10.1016/bs.armc.2020.06.004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several decades elapsed between the first descriptions of G-quadruplex nucleic acid structures (G4s) assembled <i>in vitro</i> and the emergence of experimental findings indicating that such structures can form and function in living systems. A large body of evidence now supports roles for G4s in many aspects of nucleic acid biology, spanning processes from transcription and chromatin structure, mRNA processing, protein translation, DNA replication and genome stability, and telomere and mitochondrial function. Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that some of this evidence is tentative, which is not surprising given the technical challenges associated with demonstrating G4s in biology. Here I provide an overview of evidence for G4 biology, focusing particularly on the many potential pitfalls that can be encountered in its investigation, and briefly discuss some of broader biological processes that may be impacted by G4s including cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":8033,"journal":{"name":"Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.armc.2020.06.004","citationCount":"10","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.armc.2020.06.004","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2020/7/30 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Chemistry","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 10
Abstract
Several decades elapsed between the first descriptions of G-quadruplex nucleic acid structures (G4s) assembled in vitro and the emergence of experimental findings indicating that such structures can form and function in living systems. A large body of evidence now supports roles for G4s in many aspects of nucleic acid biology, spanning processes from transcription and chromatin structure, mRNA processing, protein translation, DNA replication and genome stability, and telomere and mitochondrial function. Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that some of this evidence is tentative, which is not surprising given the technical challenges associated with demonstrating G4s in biology. Here I provide an overview of evidence for G4 biology, focusing particularly on the many potential pitfalls that can be encountered in its investigation, and briefly discuss some of broader biological processes that may be impacted by G4s including cancer.
期刊介绍:
Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry provides timely and critical reviews of important topics in medicinal chemistry with an emphasis on emerging topics in the biological sciences that are expected to provide the basis for entirely new future therapies.