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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Single-Molecule Fluorescence Visualization of DNA Polymerase Dynamics at G-Quadruplexes
Published on: April 4, 2025
The parallel G-quadruplex structure of vertebrate telomeric repeat sequences is not the preferred folding topology
Robert Hänsel1, Frank Löhr, Silvie Foldynová-Trantírková
1Institute of Biophysical Chemistry and Center for Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue Str. 9, 60438 Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Abstract:
G-quadruplex topologies of telomeric repeat sequences from vertebrates were investigated in the presence of molecular crowding (MC) mimetics, namely polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG), Ficoll 70 as well as Xenopus laevis egg extract by CD and NMR spectroscopy and native PAGE. Here, we show that the conformational behavior of the telomeric repeats in X. laevis egg extract or in Ficoll is notably different from that observed in the presence of PEG. While the behavior of the telomeric repeat in X. laevis egg extract or in Ficoll resembles results obtained under dilute conditions, PEG promotes the formation of high-order parallel topologies. Our data suggest that PEG should not be used as a MC mimetic.
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