DNA tetraplex formation in the control region of c-myc

The c-myc oncogene is one of the most commonly malfunctioning genes in human cancers, and is an attractive target for anti-gene therapy. Although synthetic oligonucleotides designed to silence c-myc expression via one of its major control elements function well in vitro, their mode of action has bee...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nucleic acids research 1998-03, Vol.26 (5), p.1167-1172
Main Authors: Simonsson, Tomas, Kubista, Mikael, Pecinka, Petr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
DNA - biosynthesis
DNA - chemistry
DNA - genetics
Drug Stability
Gene Expression Regulation
Genes, myc
Humans
In Vitro Techniques
Models, Genetic
Models, Molecular
Nucleic Acid Conformation
Oligodeoxyribonucleotides - genetics
Potassium - chemistry
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The c-myc oncogene is one of the most commonly malfunctioning genes in human cancers, and is an attractive target for anti-gene therapy. Although synthetic oligonucleotides designed to silence c-myc expression via one of its major control elements function well in vitro, their mode of action has been indefinite. Here we show that the targeted control element adopts an intrastrand fold-back DNA tetraplex, which requires potassium ions for stability in vitro. We believe formation of the tetraplex is important for c-myc activation in vivo, and propose a transcription initiation mechanism that explains how anti-gene therapy silence c-myc at the molecular level.
ISSN:0305-1048
1362-4962
1362-4962
DOI:10.1093/nar/26.5.1167