Department of Nucleic Acids Bioengineering, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-704 Poznan, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 14;22(18):9948. doi: 10.3390/ijms22189948.
G-quadruplexes constitute an important type of nucleic acid structure, which can be found in living cells and applied by cell machinery as pivotal regulatory elements. Importantly, robust development of SELEX technology and modern, nucleic acid-based therapeutic strategies targeted towards various molecules have also revealed a large group of potent aptamers whose structures are grounded in G-quadruplexes. In this review, we analyze further extension of tetraplexes by additional structural elements and investigate whether G-quadruplex junctions with duplex, hairpin, triplex, or second G-quadruplex motifs are favorable for aptamers stability and biological activity. Furthermore, we indicate the specific and pivotal role of the G-quadruplex domain and the additional structural elements in interactions with target molecules. Finally, we consider the potency of G-quadruplex junctions in future applications and indicate the emerging research area that is still waiting for development to obtain highly specific and effective nucleic acid-based molecular tools.
四链体构成了一种重要的核酸结构，它可以在活细胞中被细胞机制发现并作为关键的调控元件。重要的是，SELEX 技术的蓬勃发展和针对各种分子的现代基于核酸的治疗策略也揭示了一大类结构基于四链体的有效适体。在这篇综述中，我们进一步分析了通过额外结构元件对四链体的扩展，并研究了 G-四链体结与双链、发夹、三链或第二个 G-四链体基序的连接是否有利于适体的稳定性和生物活性。此外，我们还指出了 G-四链体结构域和额外结构元件在与靶分子相互作用中的特定和关键作用。最后，我们考虑了 G-四链体结在未来应用中的潜力，并指出了新兴的研究领域，该领域仍在等待开发，以获得高度特异性和有效的基于核酸的分子工具。
