An intramolecular G-quadruplex structure is required for binding of telomeric repeat-containing RNA to the telomeric protein TRF2.
- Abstract:
- Telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) is important for telomere regulation, but the structural basis for how TERRA localizes to chromosome ends is unknown. Here we report on studies exploring whether the TERRA G-quadruplex structure is critical for binding to telomeres. We demonstrate that the telomeric protein TRF2 binds TERRA via interactions that necessitate the formation of a G-quadruplex structure rather than the TERRA sequence per se. We also show that TRF2 simultaneously binds TERRA and telomeric duplex or G-quadruplex DNA. These observations suggest that the TERRA G-quadruplex is a key feature of telomere organization.
- Authors:
- G Biffi, D Tannahill, S Balasubramanian
- Journal:
- J Am Chem Soc
- Citation info:
- 134(29):11974-11976
- Publication date:
- 25th Jul 2012
- Full text
- DOI