Laboratory of Chemical Biology and State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, P. R. China.
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, P. R. China.
Nat Cell Biol. 2024 Jul;26(7):1212-1224. doi: 10.1038/s41556-024-01448-1. Epub 2024 Jul 3.
Despite the demonstrated importance of DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) in health and disease, technologies to readily manipulate specific G4 folding for functional analysis and therapeutic purposes are lacking. Here we employ G4-stabilizing protein/ligand in conjunction with CRISPR to selectively facilitate single or multiple targeted G4 folding within specific genomic loci. We demonstrate that fusion of nucleolin with a catalytically inactive Cas9 can specifically stabilize G4s in the promoter of oncogene MYC and muscle-associated gene Itga7 as well as telomere G4s, leading to cell proliferation arrest, inhibition of myoblast differentiation and cell senescence, respectively. Furthermore, CRISPR can confer intra-G4 selectivity to G4-binding compounds pyridodicarboxamide and pyridostatin. Compared with traditional G4 ligands, CRISPR-guided biotin-conjugated pyridodicarboxamide enables a more precise investigation into the biological functionality of de novo G4s. Our study provides insights that will enhance understanding of G4 functions and therapeutic interventions.
尽管 DNA 四链体 (G4s) 在健康和疾病中的重要性已得到证实,但缺乏可用于功能分析和治疗目的的易于操作特定 G4 折叠的技术。在这里,我们结合使用 G4 稳定蛋白/配体和 CRISPR 来选择性地促进特定基因组位点中单或多个靶向 G4 折叠。我们证明,核仁素与无催化活性的 Cas9 的融合可以特异性地稳定癌基因 MYC 和肌肉相关基因 Itga7 以及端粒 G4s 启动子中的 G4s,分别导致细胞增殖停滞、抑制成肌细胞分化和细胞衰老。此外,CRISPR 可以赋予 G4 结合化合物吡啶并二羧酸酰胺和吡啶并司他汀在内 G4 选择性。与传统的 G4 配体相比,CRISPR 指导的生物素偶联的吡啶并二羧酸酰胺使对从头 G4s 的生物学功能进行更精确的研究成为可能。我们的研究提供了深入了解 G4 功能和治疗干预的见解。