Two-quartet G-quadruplexes formed by DNA sequences containing four contiguous GG runs.

The DNA sequence containing four contiguous GG runs (G2NxG2NyG2NzG2, G2 sequence) has the potential to form a two-quartet G-quadruplex. However, the prevalence, structure, and function of G2 sequences have not been well-studied. Here, bioinformatics analysis reveals the abundance of G2 sequences in the human genome and their enrichment in promoter regions. The density of G2 sequences in the genome and promoters is much higher than that of the G3 sequence (G3NxG3NyG3NzG3). Experiments show that the conformations and thermal stabilities of the two-quartet G-quadruplexes of G2 sequences are highly sensitive to the length and composition of the loops. Among the two-quartet G-quadruplexes, the parallel G-quadruplex with a loop length of 1 and the antiparallel G-quadruplex with a loop length of 3 show high thermal stabilities. Additionally, the stable parallel G-quadruplexes are stacked into intermolecular higher-order structures. This work determines the prevalence of G2 sequences in the human genome and demonstrates that the G-quadruplex structures for certain loop lengths and compositions may be stable in vivo. Thus, more attention should be paid to the structure and function of the two-quartet G-quadruplex.