核酸の四重鎖構造およびその構造を安定化する分子による転写および翻訳の制御

抄録

Nucleic acids can adopt many types of noncanonical structures such as a triple helix and a quadruplex depending on the sequence and solution conditions. Recently, we developed a molecular crowding system which is the cell mimicking system to investigate thermodynamic behaviors of nucleic acids in cell. As results of our researches, the molecular crowding stabilizes the quadruplex with Hoogsteen base pairs, while it destabilizes the duplex with Watson-Crick base pairs which is the canonical structure. In this review, based on the thermodynamic results of DNA and RNA under the crowding condition, regulation of transcription and translation by the quadruplex structure of nucleic acids and its stabilizers is described. It is possible that the polymerase and ribosome bound to the template DNA and RNA, respectively, may mimic the crowded conditions in which we have shown to stabilize the quadruplex. Our results presented in this review indicate that stable noncanonical structures regulate transcription and translation. The results further our understanding of the transcription and translation processes involving the noncanonical structures and may guide the design of transcription and translation regulating drugs.