A computational study on the nature of DNA G-quadruplex structure
DNA G-quadruplexes are higher-order structures self-assembled from guanine-rich oligonucleotides. These DNA structures are composed of stacked planar G-quartets, a cyclic Hoogsteen hydrogen bonding arrangement of four guanine bases, that are stabilized in the presence of monovalent cations. The identification of G-quadruplex structures in the human genome, particularly telomeres and oncogene-promoter regions offer unique avenues to selectively target these structures for anticancer drug development. In addition, G-quadruplex structures have attracted considerable attention for their regulatory roles incellular processes including DNA replication, transcription, and translation.
Apart from their role in therapeutics and biology, the unique structure of the G-quadruplex makes it an interesting building blocks for the development of nanodevices. The aim of this thesis is to investigate different aspects of G-quadruplex based systems for these applications with the aid of computational techniques.