title: Carboxyl-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes selectively induce human telomeric i-motif formation.
abstract: As the leading nanodevice candidate, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have potential therapeutic applications in gene therapy and novel drug delivery. We found that SWNTs can inhibit DNA duplex association and selectively induce human telomeric i-motif DNA formation by binding to the 5'-end major groove under physiological conditions or even at pH 8.0. SWNT binding to telomeric DNA was studied by UV melting, NMR, S1 nuclease cleavage, CD, and competitive FRET methods. These results suggest that SWNTs might have the intriguing potential to modulate human telomeric DNA structures in vivo, like biologically relevant B-A and B-Z DNA transitions, which is of great interest for drug design and cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Chemistry and Physics, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yinghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D015394:Molecular Structure; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D016615:Telomere / Q000737:chemistry*; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D004247:DNA