[Loop organization of eukaryotic chromosomes and triple-stranded DNA structures]

To study possible involvement of polypurine and polypyrimidine DNA tracks potentially capable to form triple-stranded structures (H-form of DNA) in compactization of eukaryotic chromosomes a search in silico for "complementary" polypurine and polypyrimidine tracks within 12 eukaryotic gene nucleotide sequences was carried out. Polypurine and polypyrimidine tracks (10-11 b.p.) potentially capable of interacting with each other with the formation of triplex structures ("structurizing" regions) has been shown to be located in chromosomal locus of genes, predominantly in introns and flanking regions. In the case of in vivo realization of such DNA-DNA interactions the chromosomal gene domains can be folded into several small loops. An involvement of DNA triplexes in the chromosomal gene loci compactization may be associated with the gene functioning. The analogous analysis carried out for nucleotide sequences of long (LINE) and short (SINE) repeats dispersed over the genome as well as of satellite DNA has demonstrated a fundamental identity between mechanisms of chromosomal encoding and non-coding regions' compactization.