title: A pyrene-imidazolium derivative that selectively recognizes G-quadruplex DNA.
abstract: G-quadruplexes, formed of four stranded guanine bases stabilized by monovalent cations, serve important role in cancer cell growth and control gene expression in telomere. Since there are various types of quadruplex structures, rapid and simple screening methods with high selectivity, sensitivity and nontoxicity are required for understanding about the biological roles of quadruplex DNA as well as in designing therapeutics. Herein, we report a pyrene-imidazolium derivative, JY-1, which can with high selectivity recognize G-quadruplex using fluorescence and NMR spectroscopy. This is the first example based on the imidazolium derivative, which can detect the G-quadruplex directly to utilize the excimer/monomer emission change in pyrene fluorophore. The selectivity of strong binding to a specific sequence can allow for quadruplex sensing and the detection method presented here is very simple, using fluorescence and NMR study. Also, the groove binding characteristic of JY-1 to the G-quadruplex has a relatively low nonspecific toxicity and the structure-specific differences in fluorescent character between DNA duplex and G-quadruplex may offer more discovery and application in biological study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Nano Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ha Na
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eun-Hae
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Zhaochao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Hee-Eun
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee-Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Joon-Hwa
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Juyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D054856:G-Quadruplexes; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011721:Pyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007093:Imidazoles; D011721:Pyrenes; D004247:DNA