Stabilization and Induction of Oligonucleotide i-Motif Structure via Graphene Quantum Dots

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• 作者：Xin Chen ; Xuejiao Zhou ; Ting Han ; Jiaying Wu ; Jingyan Zhang ; Shouwu Guo
• 刊名：ACS Nano
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：January 22, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：7
• 期：1
• 页码：531-537
• 全文大小：447K
• 年卷期：v.7,no.1(January 22, 2013)
• ISSN：1936-086X

文摘

DNA i-motif structures have been found in telomeric, centromeric DNA and many in the promoter region of oncogenes; thus they might be attractive targets for gene-regulation processes and anticancer therapeutics. We demonstrate in this work that i-motif structures can be stabilized by graphene quantum dots (GQDs) under acidic conditions, and more importantly GQDs can promote the formation of the i-motif structure under alkaline or physiological conditions. We illustrate that the GQDs stabilize the i-motif structure through end-stacking of the bases at its loop regions, thus reducing its solvent-accessible area. Under physiological or alkaline conditions, the end-stacking of GQDs on the unfolded structure shifts the equilibrium between the i-motif and unfolded structure toward the i-motif structure, thus promoting its formation. The possibility of fine-tuning the stability of the i-motif and inducing its formation would make GQDs useful in gene regulation and oligonucleotide-based therapeutics.

Keywords:

graphene quantum dots; i-motif; stabilization; induction; end-stacking