experimental methods for studying the interactions between stronggstrong.pdf

Pre-print version “Experimental Methods for Studying the Interactions between G-Quadruplex Structures and Ligands” Joaquim Jaumot and Raimundo Gargallo Current Pharmaceutical Design (2012) 18, 14, xx-xx Experimental Methods for Studing the Interactions between G-Quadruplex Structures and Ligands Joaquim Jaumot* and Raimundo Gargallo Solution Equilibria and Chemometrics group (Associate Unit UB-CSIC), Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain * Corresponding author Tel: (34)-934034445 fax: (34)-934021233 E-mail address: joaquimjaumot@ub.edu 1 Abstract The present paper reviews the recent advances in and applications of experimental techniques used to study interactions between G-quadruplex structures and ligands that are potentially of pharmaceutical interest. Several instrumental techniques are used to study such interactions. The application of spectroscopic techniques such as molecular absorption, circular dichroism, molecular fluorescence, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance are reviewed and we discuss the type of information (qualitative or quantitative) that can be obtained from the use of each technique. Additionally, the application of complementary techniques such as surface plasmon resonance, isothermal titration calorimetry and different methods based on biochemistry is considered . For each technique, the main applications are presented and they are classified according to the family of the ligand and the type of G-quadruplex forming sequence (human telomeric or promoter region of oncogenes) considered. Keywords: G-quadruplex, ligand, review, instrumental techniques 2 Introduction Guanine-rich nucleic acid sequences can fold into four-stranded DNA structures that are known as G-quadruplexes. The building blocks of these structures