Genome Complexity; spare tire guanines (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, July 20, 2015, 15:01 (3415 days ago) @ David Turell

Apparently guanine can be he most damaged of the base amino acids. DNA carris an extra supply:-http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acscentsci.5b00202-From the abstract: "The results support a hypothesis in which regulatory G4s carry a “spare-tire” fifth G-track for aiding in the repair process when these sequences are damaged by radical oxygen species, a feature observed in a large number of these sequences. Furthermore, formation and repair of oxidized bases in promoter regions may constitute an additional example of epigenetic modification, in this case of guanine bases, to regulate gene expression in which the G4 sequences act as sensors of oxidative stress."