Regulation of gene expression by targeting DNA secondary structures

Abstract

G-quadruplexes (G4s) are guanine rich and i-motifs are cytosine rich non-canonical four-stranded DNA secondary structures present throughout the genome. Their presence in important regulatory regions of the genome marks their significance in biology. This perspective discusses the importance of both G-quadruplex and i-motif structures and highlights their discovery, structural uniqueness, prevalence, and role in the biological system. Herein, we discuss the ligands developed in our laboratory that target G-quadruplexes and i-motifs and modulate gene expression in cancer cells. We also shed light on some recent techniques developed by us to simplify the synthesis and screening of G4 and i-motif specific ligands and their importance in anti-cancer therapeutics.