Thioflavin T As A Fluorescence Light-Up Probe For G4 Formation

Authors

A. R. De La Faverie
A. Guédin
A. Bedrat
Liliya A. Yatsunyk, Swarthmore CollegeFollow
J.-L. Mergny

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2014

Published In

Nucleic Acids Research

Abstract

Thioflavin T (ThT) becomes fluorescent in the presence of the G-quadruplex structure such as that formed by the human telomeric motif. In this report, we extend and generalize these observations and show that this dye may be used as a convenient and specific quadruplex probe. In the presence of most, but not all, G4-forming sequences, we observed a large increase in ThT fluorescence emission, whereas the presence of control duplexes and single strands had a more limited effect on emission. This differential behavior allowed us to design a high-throughput assay to detect G4 formation. Hundreds of different oligonucleotides may be tested in parallel for G4 formation with a simple fluorescence plate reader. We applied this technique to a family of aptamers not previously recognized as G4-forming sequences and demonstrated that ThT fluorescence signal may be used to predict G4 formation.

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of the American Institute of Physics.

Recommended Citation

A. R. De La Faverie, A. Guédin, A. Bedrat, Liliya A. Yatsunyk, and J.-L. Mergny. (2014). "Thioflavin T As A Fluorescence Light-Up Probe For G4 Formation". Nucleic Acids Research. Volume 42, Issue 8. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gku111
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-chemistry/27