Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes have been shown to catalyze 1-electron oxidation reactions when bound to heme.In this work, we set out to explore the fundamental nature of G-quadruplexes that allow for heme binding, and the potential of nucleoheme complexes in catalyzing other heme-related enzymatic reactions.A combination of spectroscopic and gel-based tools was used to observe structural features of nucleoheme complexes.We determined that the in vitro selected heme apatamer, PS2.M, is highly polymorphic and predominantly parallel-stranded.The ability of many parallel Gquadruplexes to bind heme and perform peroxidase reactions led us to believe that some nucleoheme complexes may be capable of catalyzing oxygen transfer or 2-electron oxidation reactions.By using gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography analysis, we determined that nucleoheme complexes were capable of oxidizing electron-rich substrates: thioanisole, indole, and styrene.This discovery has expanded our understanding of the catalytic repertoire of nucleic acids, which leads to questions about the consequences and potential of this catalytic ability.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Lester Chi-Heng Poon
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2204459998