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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

A G-quadruplex DNA-affinity Approach for Purification of Enzymatically Active G4 Resolvase1
Published on: March 18, 2017
A sodium-potassium switch in the formation of four-stranded G4-DNA
1Department of Cellular and Development Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Abstract:
Single-stranded complex guanine-rich DNA sequences from chromosomal telomeres and elsewhere can associate to form stable parallel four-stranded structures termed G4-DNA by a process that is anomalously dependent on the particular alkali metal cation that is present. The anomaly, which is not found in the formation of G4-DNA by oligonucleotides containing short, single runs of three or more guanines, is caused by potassium cations excessively stabilizing fold-back intermediate structures, or pathway by-products.
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