8-Oxoguanine Forms Quartets with a Large Central Cavity

Oxidation of a guanine nucleotide in DNA yields an 8oxoguanine nucleotide (oxoG) and is a mutagenic event in the genome. Due to different arrangements of hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors, oxoG can affect the secondary structure of nucleic acids. We have investigated base pairing preferences of oxoG in the core of a tetrahelical G-quadruplex structure, adopted by analogues of d(TG4T). Using spectroscopic methods, we have shown that G quartets can be fully substituted with oxoG nucleobases to form an oxoG-quartet with a revamped hydrogen-bonding scheme. While an oxoG-quartet can be incorporated into the G-quadruplex core without distorting the phosphodiester backbone, larger dimensions of the central cavity change the cation localization and exchange properties.