Potential G-quadruplexes in the human long non-coding transcriptome

Abstract

DNA G-quadruplexes are known as modulators of transcription. More recently G-quadruplexes, located in the untranslated regions of the mRNA of protein coding genes, have been described to negatively regulate gene expression at the post transcriptional/ translational levels. Here we describe the possibility of the existence of G-quadruplexes in non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and discuss their potential biological roles. Using an in house prediction tool (Quadfinder) we observe a significant occurrence and distribution of G-quadruplexes in ncRNA of various sizes. We also observe that most of non-coding RNAs harboring these potential quadruplex motifs peak at the sizes ranging from 200–300 bases. More importantly we report enrichment for single and dinucleotide loops indicating a degree of high stability of these G-quadruplexes and their potential functions in vivo. Subsequent in vitro analyses of a subset of these sequences were performed which support our predictions.