What is it about?
i-motif structures are unusual structures of DNA in cytosine-rich sequences. They are very stable at pH 4 but they unfold to random coil structures at pH 7. For these reasons they have been used to build pH sensors or pH-responsive nanomachines. In the paper we studied the effect in stability and pH-mediated transitions of i-motif structures carrying modified cytosine derivatives.
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Why is it important?
The novel acyclic cytosine derivatives changes the stability and the pH range of stable i-motif structures opening the possibility of having structures that unfolds at different pH ranges.
Perspectives
This publication has led to our group to study other cytosine derivatives in a similar context finding novel derivatives that stabilize i-motif at neutral pHs. I-motif structures are fun to study as they are nicely observed by UV and CD spectroscopies.
Ramon Eritja
CSIC
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Modulation of the stability of i-motif structures using an acyclic threoninol cytidine derivative, RSC Advances, January 2015, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/c5ra10096h.
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