Naslov
Palindromes – dangerous secondary structures in DNA

Autori
Miklenić, Marina ; Lisnić, Berislav ; Štafa, Anamarija ; Žunar Bojan ; Svetec, Ivan-Krešimir

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Paris Interdisciplinary PhD symposium

Mjesto i datum
Pariz, Francuska, 13.06.2011. - 15.06.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
palindromes; secondary structures; genome instability

Sažetak
To understand when and under which conditions a portion of DNA containing a palindrome undergoes an extrusion into a cruciform structure (and reverse) it is necessary to understand the physics of the DNA molecule, to consider the forces and the stochastic events which could cause such an extrusion. Once this structure appears, what happens to it? Cruciforms have important roles, acting as recognition signals at eukaryotic origins of replication. However, they are also considered to be dangerous. They present an obstacle during DNA replication. There is strong evidence that a protein exists which recognizes palindromic cruciform structures and introduces a double strand break in the DNA. Therefore, cruciforms are a source of genome instability which can have devastating consequences for the cell. In humans several syndromes accompanied by severe physical malformations and mental retardation are caused by palindrome-related genome instability. The longer the palindromic sequence (giving rise to thermodynamically more stable cruciforms), the higher the risk for the stability of the genome. Proteins that stabilise palindromic sequences and prevent the formation of double strand breaks may also exist. In the long run, all this has an effect on the evolution of the genome, where the frequency and the distribution of various palindromic sequences reflect both their importance and the risk they present. In our current work, we are inserting short spacer DNA (1 bp, 2 bp, ..., 10 bp) in the centre of a 126 bp long palindrome, therefore creating two 63 bp long inverted repeats which no longer constitute a perfect palindrome. We measure the potential of such repeats to cause genome instability in vivo. The aim of this research is to determine how much apart the two repeats have to be to no longer present a risk for genome stability. Therefore, we will be able to draw conclusions on the events that lead to cruciform extrusion and/or its stability once it has been extruded from the chromosome.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biotehnologija

POVEZANOST RADA