Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Shenzhen Research Institute of City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Oct 9;48(18):10125-10141. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa759.
G-quadruplexes (G4s) are nucleic acid structure motifs that are of significance in chemistry and biology. The function of G4s is often governed by their interaction with G4-binding proteins. Few categories of G4-specific tools have been developed to inhibit G4-protein interactions; however, until now there is no aptamer tool being developed to do so. Herein, we present a novel L-RNA aptamer that can generally bind to D-RNA G-quadruplex (rG4) structure, and interfere with rG4-protein interaction. Using hTERC rG4 as the target for in vitro selection, we report the shortest L-aptamer being developed so far, with only 25 nucleotides. Notably, this new aptamer, L-Apt.4-1c, adopts a stem-loop structure with the loop folding into an rG4 motif with two G-quartet, demonstrates preferential binding toward rG4s over non-G4s and DNA G-quadruplexes (dG4s), and suppresses hTERC rG4-nucleolin interactions. We also show that inhibition of rG4-protein interaction using L-RNA aptamer L-Apt.4-1c is comparable to or better than G4-specific ligands such as carboxypyridostatin and QUMA-1 respectively, highlighting that our approach and findings expand the current G4 toolbox, and open a new avenue for diverse applications.
四链体(G4s)是一类在化学和生物学中具有重要意义的核酸结构基序。G4s 的功能通常受到其与 G4 结合蛋白相互作用的控制。已经开发了少数几类专门用于抑制 G4-蛋白相互作用的 G4 特异性工具;然而,到目前为止,还没有开发出适体工具来做到这一点。在这里,我们提出了一种新型的 L-RNA 适体,它可以普遍结合 D-RNA G-四链体(rG4)结构,并干扰 rG4-蛋白相互作用。使用 hTERC rG4 作为体外选择的靶标,我们报告了迄今为止开发的最短的 L-适体,只有 25 个核苷酸。值得注意的是,这种新的适体,L-Apt.4-1c,采用茎环结构,环折叠成具有两个 G-四联体的 rG4 基序,表现出对 rG4s 的优先结合,而不是非 G4s 和 DNA G-四链体(dG4s),并抑制 hTERC rG4-核仁素相互作用。我们还表明,使用 L-RNA 适体 L-Apt.4-1c 抑制 rG4-蛋白相互作用的效果可与 G4 特异性配体(如羧基吡啶鎓和 QUMA-1)相媲美或优于,这突出表明我们的方法和发现扩展了当前的 G4 工具包,并为各种应用开辟了新途径。