Item Details

abstract

Telomeres are stretches of non-coding DNA sequences in complex with multifunctional proteins, which form the termini of the chromosomes in most eukaryotic organisms. Two important roles of the telomeres are to prevent chromosome end-to-end fusion and loss of genetic information. While the gradual (natural) erosion of the telomeric DNA in somatic cells has been implicated in the processes of aging and cell death, the telomeric DNA in tumor cells, ironically, is efficiently restored by upregulated telomerase, a mechanism rendering cancer cells immortal. The human telomeric DNA consists of tandem repeats of the guanine-rich sequence 5´-TTAGGG, which end in single-stranded 3´ overhangs that can fold into a non-duplex secondary DNA structure known as G-quadruplex. Because this form of DNA cannot be processed by telomerase, small molecules that induce and/or stabilize the G-quadruplex structure have potential applications in cancer chemotherapy.

subject

G-quadruplex

perylene

platinum

telomere

contributor

Rao, Lu (author)

Bierbach, Ulrich (committee chair)

Alexander, Rebecca W (committee member)

Colyer, Christa L (committee member)

Guthold, Martin (committee member)

Hinze, Willie L (committee member)

Salam, Akbar (committee member)

date

2011-07-14T20:35:17Z (accessioned)

2012-07-14T08:30:18Z (available)

2011 (issued)

degree

Chemistry (discipline)

embargo

2012-07-14 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33437 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

Interactions Between Platinum-Intercalator Hybrid-Agents and The Human Telomeric G-Quadruplex

type

Dissertation