A Simple and Sensitive 19FNMR Approach for Studying the Interaction of RNA G-Quadruplex with Ligand Molecule and Protein

A recent finding demonstrated that telomere DNA is transcribed into telomeric repeat-containing RNA (referred to as TERRA) in mammalian cells. The existence of TERRA RNA may reveal a new level of regulation and protection of chromosome ends that could promote valuable insight into fundamental biological processes such as cancer and aging. Revealing the structure and function of telomere RNA will be essential for understanding telomere biology and telomere-related diseases. In fact, others and we have shown that human telomere RNA forms G-quadruplex structures by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. In the present study, we employed the (FNMR)-F-19 spectroscopy to investigate the interaction of RNA G-quadruplex with ligand molecule and protein. We showed that (FNMR)-F-19 analysis of telomere RNA is useful for identifying the binding of RNA G-quadruplex with ligand molecule. We further demonstrated that (FNMR)-F-19 can be used to monitor the interaction of RNA G-quadruplex and the telomeric protein TRF2.