Single-walled carbon nanotubes binding to human telomeric i-motif DNA: significant acceleration of S1 nuclease cleavage rate

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) binding to human telomeric i-motif DNA can significantly accelerate S1 nuclease cleavage rate by increasing the enzyme turnover number.

Chiral metallo-supramolecular complexes selectively recognize human telomeric G-quadruplex DNA

Here, we report the first example that one enantiomer of a supramolecular cylinder can selectively stabilize human telomeric G-quadruplex DNA. The P-enantiomer of this cylinder has a strong preference for G-quadruplex over duplex DNA and, in the presence of sodium, can convert G-quadruplexes from an antiparallel to a hybrid structure. The compound's chiral selectivity and its ability to discriminate quadruplex DNA have been studied by DNA melting, circular dichroism, gel electrophoresis, fluorescence spectroscopy and S1 nuclease cleavage.

Carboxyl-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes selectively induce human telomeric i-motif formation

As the leading nanodevice candidate, single-walled carbon nano-tubes (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.