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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Single-molecule Manipulation of G-quadruplexes by Magnetic Tweezers
Published on: September 19, 2017
DEAD-box RNA helicases Dbp2, Ded1 and Mss116 bind to G-quadruplex nucleic acids and destabilize G-quadruplex RNA
Jun Gao1, Alicia K Byrd, Boris L Zybailov
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham Street (Slot 516), Little Rock, Arkansas 72205, USA. RaneyKevinD@uams.edu.
Abstract:
We identified 29 G-quadruplex binding proteins by affinity purification and quantitative LC-MS/MS. We demonstrated that the DEAD-box RNA helicases Dbp2, Ded1 and Mss116 preferentially bind to G-quadruplex nucleic acids in vitro and destabilize RNA quadruplexes, suggesting new potential roles for these helicases in disruption of quadruplex structures in RNA.
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