Abstract

This talk is free for members of BioSoc or £2 for non-members. You can also sign up for life membership (£15) at this talk.

DNA is structurally dynamic in ways that have a consequence for biological processes. In this lecture I will discuss a class of four-stranded DNA structure, called the G-Quadruplex that can be formed from G-rich single stranded DNA . There is now a good level of understanding on the structural biophysics of G-quadruplexes along with a large body of work on the design and synthesis of small organic molecules that can target such structures. Some such molecules have been found to have anti-proliferative effects on human cancer cells along with specific effects on the activity of certain genes, raising intriguing hypotheses about their existence and function in cells. I will present recent results from my laboratory that provide new insights into when and where such non-Watson-Crick structures may exist in cellular DNA together with a perspective on whether this structural motif in DNA presents new opportunities to think about intervention and future therapeutics.