Friday, July 29, 2016 11:00 am
-
12:00 pm
EDT (GMT -04:00)
The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) presents a seminar by Professor Naoki Sugimoto, from Frontier Institute for Biomolecular Engineering Research (FIBER), Graduate School of Frontiers of Innovative Research in Science and Technology (FIRST) at Konan University, Kobe, Japan.
Stability and Function of Nucleic Acids with Non-canonical Structures
Abstract
Guanine-rich
sequences
are
able
to
form
G-quadruplexes;
this
structure
is
composed
of
G-quartets
stabilized
by
Hoogsteen
base
pairings.
The
stability
of
G-quadruplexes
depends
on
metal
ions
present
in
solution,
and
molecular
crowding
agents
like
poly
(ethylene
glycol)
stabilize
these
structures.
Sequences
capable
of
forming
G-quadruplexes
are
found
in
telomeres
and
in
promoter
regions
of
known
oncogenes.
Thus,
G-quadruplex
formation
may
regulate
expression
of
genes
involved
in
cancer
progression.
It
was
recently
suggested
that
G-quadruplex
formation
in
the
5’
UTR
of
mRNAs
potentially
suppresses
protein
expression
level
by
inhibiting
scanning
by
the
small
ribosomal
subunit,
especially
in
the
UTRs
of
oncogene
mRNAs.
In
this
lecture,
I
will
show
the
importance
of
stability
and
function
of
the
G-quadruplexes
on
the
reaction
of
nucleic
acids.
The
effect
of
non-canonical
structures
formed
in
the
template
DNA
and
mRNA
on
the
transcription
and
translation
will
be
also
presented
quantitatively
to
develop
a
preemptive
medicine.