Key Laboratory for Cell Proliferation and Regulation Biology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering Drugs and Biological Technology, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Nucleic Acid Ther. 2011 Jun;21(3):185-200. doi: 10.1089/nat.2010.0272.
RNA/DNA sequences rich in guanine (G) can form a 4-strand structure, G-quadruplex, which has been extensively researched and observed in mammalian, fungi, and plants, with in vivo existence in eukaryotic cells. Compared with DNA quadruplex, the potential existence of RNA quadruplex appears to be generally rare; however, it is believed by some researchers to be more inevitable in vivo and speculated to play an important role where it exists. Recently, researches concerning the function of G-quadruplexes in RNAs commence, making much progress. However, there is no available review particularly focusing on RNA quadruplex till now as we know. Therefore, we decide to give a review to comprehensively summarize research progress on it. This review highlights the diverse topologies for RNA quadruplex structure and its effect factors; outlines the current knowledge of RNA quadruplex's physiological functions in biological systems, especially in gene expression; and presents the prospects of RNA quadruplex.
富含鸟嘌呤（G）的 RNA/DNA 序列可以形成四链结构，即 G-四链体。这种结构已在哺乳动物、真菌和植物中得到广泛研究和观察，并且在真核细胞中有体内存在。与 DNA 四链体相比，RNA 四链体的潜在存在似乎普遍较少；然而，一些研究人员认为它在体内更不可避免，并推测它在存在的地方发挥重要作用。最近，关于 RNA 中 G-四链体功能的研究开始取得很大进展。然而，据我们所知，目前还没有专门针对 RNA 四链体的综述。因此，我们决定撰写一篇综述，全面总结关于它的研究进展。这篇综述强调了 RNA 四链体结构的多种拓扑结构及其影响因素；概述了目前在生物系统中，特别是在基因表达中，RNA 四链体的生理功能的知识；并提出了 RNA 四链体的前景。
