1. G-quadruplex Nanostructures Probed at the Single Molecular Level by Force-based Methods
- Author
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Masayuki Endo, Arivazhagan Rajendran, Hanbin Mao, Hiroshi Sugiyama, and Soma Dhakal
- Subjects
chemistry.chemical_compound ,Crystallography ,Chemistry ,Guanine ,Oligonucleotide ,Microscopy ,Molecule ,Guanosine ,Structural motif ,G-quadruplex ,Quantum tunnelling - Abstract
In 1910 Ivar Bang reported that concentrated solutions of guanylic acid formed a gel. It took half a century before Gellert et al. in 1962 discovered the structural motif, a guanine-quartet, to be the basis for guanylic acid gelation. This chapter starts with a historical overview and gives credit to Ivar Bang and several other pioneers in the field. Then the basic principles of guanine self-assembly are explored, either for individual molecules like guanosine and its derivatives, or for guanine-rich oligonucleotides and G-rich DNA-sequences. Finally, we show how these guanine-based nanoarchitectures are visualised by surface techniques like scanning tunnelling microscopy or atomic force microscopy.
- Published
- 2012