The multivalent G-quadruplex (G4)-ligands MultiTASQs allow for versatile click chemistry-based investigations

Sperti, Francesco Rota; Mitteaux, Jérémie; Zell, Joanna; Pipier, Angélique; Valverde, Ibai E.; Monchaud, David

doi:10.1101/2022.10.28.512542

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Finally, the most recent TASQ prototypes, named Multi-TASQ, photoMultiTASQ, and azidoMultiTASQ (Figure 6A), combined the skills of the previous TASQ generations with an additional level of modularity. 77 Their clickable handle (an alkyne for MultiTASQ and photoMultiTASQ, an azide for azidoMultiTASQ) allowed them to be implemented in a series of bio-orthogonal investigations: they can indeed be clicked (the copper-catalyzed azide−alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) 78,79 for MultiTASQ and photoMultiTASQ, the strain-promoted azide−alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) 80 for azidoMultiTASQ) once in interaction with their cellular partners with, for instance, a biotin for affinity capture (e.g., click-seq) 81 or a fluorophore for visualization purposes (e.g., in situ click imaging, Figure 6H). 82 The photoactivatable diazirine handle of photoMultiTASQ was specifically designed to capture and profile G4-interacting proteins (i.e., the co-binding-mediated protein profiling (CMPP) protocol), 83 which add a proteomics component to the already well-advanced genomics use of TASQ.…”

Section: Multivalent G4 Ligandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Template-Assembled Synthetic G-Quartets (TASQs): multiTASQing Molecular Tools for Investigating DNA and RNA G-Quadruplex Biology

Monchaud

2023

Acc. Chem. Res.

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Metrics & MoreArticle Recommendations CONSPECTUS: Biomimetics is defined as a "practice of making technological design that copies natural processes", with the idea that "nature has already solved the challenges we are trying to solve" (Cambridge Dictionary). The challenge we decided to address several years ago was the selective targeting of G quadruplexes (G4s) by small molecules (G4 ligands). Why? Because G4s, which are four-stranded DNA and RNA structures that fold from guanine (G)-rich sequences, are suspected to play key biological roles in human cells and diseases. Selective G4 ligands can thus be used as small-molecule modulators to gain a deep understanding of cell circuitry where G4s are involved, thus complying with the very definition of chemical biology (Stuart Schreiber) applied here to G4 biology. How? Following a biomimetic approach that hinges on the observation that G4s are stable secondary structures owing to the ability of Gs to self-associate to form G quartets, and then of G quartets to self-stack to form the columnar core of G4s. Therefore, using a synthetic G quartet as a G4 ligand represents a unique example of biomimetic recognition of G4s.We formulated this hypothesis more than a decade ago, stepping on years of research on Gs, G4s, and G4 ligands. Our approach led to the design, synthesis, and use of a broad family of synthetic G quartets, also referred to as TASQs for template-assembled synthetic G quartets (John Sherman). This quest led us across various chemical lands (organic and supramolecular chemistry, chemical biology, and genetics), along a route on which every new generation of TASQ was a milestone in the growing portfolio of ever smarter molecular tools to decipher G4 biology. As discussed in this Account, we detail how and why we successively develop the very first prototypes of (i) biomimetic ligands, which interact with G4s according to a bioinspired, like−likes−like interaction between two G quartets, one from the ligand, the other from the G4; (ii) smart ligands, which adopt their active conformation only in the presence of their G4 targets; (iii) twice-as-smart ligands, which act as both smart ligands and smart fluorescent probes, whose fluorescence is triggered (turned on) upon interaction with their G4 targets; and (iv) multivalent ligands, which display additional functionalities enabling the detection, isolation, and identification of G4s both in vitro and in vivo. This quest led us to gather a panel of 14 molecular tools which were used to investigate the biology of G4s at a cellular level, from basic optical imaging to multiomics studies.

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