Background: Nucleic acids containing guanine tracts can form quadruplex structures via non-Watson-Crick base pairing. Formation of G-quadruplexes is associated with the regulation of important biological functions such as transcription, genetic instability, DNA repair, DNA replication, epigenetic mechanisms, regulation of translation, and alternative splicing. G-quadruplexes play important roles in human diseases and are being considered as targets for a variety of therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaturally occurring G-quadruplex structural motifs, formed by guanine-rich nucleic acids, have been reported in telomeric, promoter and transcribed regions of mammalian genomes. G-quadruplex structures have received significant attention because of growing evidence for their role in important biological processes, human disease and as therapeutic targets. Lately, there has been much interest in the potential roles of RNA G-quadruplexes as cis-regulatory elements of post-transcriptional gene expression.
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