Circular dichroism spectroscopic studies on structures formed by telomeric DNA sequencesin vitro

Telomere plays an important role in cellular processes, such as cell aging, death and carcinogenisis. Having special sequences, it can form quadruplex structurein vitro. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic studies show that TTAGGG, (TTAGGG)₂ and (TTAGGG)₄ can all form quadruplexin vitro and exist mainly as parallel quadruplex without metal ions. Both K⁺ and Na⁺ can stabilize the tetrameric structure and facilitate the forming of anti-parallel conformation. Furthermore, the conformations of quadruplex can also be affected by sequence length, the nature and concentration of metal ions.     

Circular dichroism spectra of different structures formed by the oligonucleotides

Under different conditions, oligonucleotides can form several different DNA structures such as duplex, triplex and quadruplex. All these structures exhibit an obvious difference in their CD spectra. The common characteristic is that they show a negative band at 240 nm, while in the range of 260–300 nm, the spectra are different from each other. Many factors such as chain direction, sugar puckering mode, orientation of the glycosyl bond, base stacking and sequence can affect their conformation and then show diversity and complexity in their spectra. By studying and comparing these spectra, more information about their conformations can be obtained to help predict some new structures. Furthermore, the spectra can also provide a base to study their potential biological functions.