Xiao, Chao-Da Ishizuka, Takumi Zhu, Xiao-Qing Li, Yue Sugiyama, Hiroshi Xu, Yan Unusual Topological RNA Architecture with an Eight-Stranded Helical Fragment Containing A‑, G‑, and U‑Tetrads Human telomeric RNA performs various cellular functions such as telomere length regulation, heterochromatin formation, and chromosome end protection. Using a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance, circular dichroism, and gel electrophoresis, we observed an unusual topological structure formed by human telomere RNA r­(GUUAGGGU). Our results showed that every set of four strands formed a parallel G-quadruplex as symmetry-related units containing four G-tetrads, two U-tetrads, and one A-tetrad. An eight-stranded helical fragment containing A-, G-, and U-tetrads provided a central intercalated scaffold that connected two G-quadruplex units in an alternating antiparallel arrangement, giving rise to a novel RNA architecture. This higher order RNA structure is so stable that it would be surprising if similar structures do not occur in nature. Our findings provide a new insight into the behavior of human telomeric RNA molecules. chromosome end protection;telomere length regulation;topological structure;gel electrophoresis;G-quadruplex units;eight-stranded helical fragment;heterochromatin formation;symmetry-related units;Eight-Stranded Helical Fragment Containing;RNA molecules;order RNA structure;antiparallel arrangement;novel RNA architecture;intercalated scaffold;Unusual Topological RNA Architecture 2017-02-08
    https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Unusual_Topological_RNA_Architecture_with_an_Eight-Stranded_Helical_Fragment_Containing_A_G_and_U_Tetrads/4643782
10.1021/jacs.6b12274.s001