Published in

Springer, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 7(78), p. 3709-3724, 2021

DOI: 10.1007/s00018-021-03795-w

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RNA and DNA G-quadruplexes bind to human dicer and inhibit its activity

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

AbstractGuanine (G)-rich single-stranded nucleic acids can adopt G-quadruplex structures. Accumulating evidence indicates that G-quadruplexes serve important regulatory roles in fundamental biological processes such as DNA replication, transcription, and translation, while aberrant G-quadruplex formation is linked to genome instability and cancer. Understanding the biological functions played by G-quadruplexes requires detailed knowledge of their protein interactome. Here, we report that both RNA and DNA G-quadruplexes are bound by human Dicer in vitro. Using in vitro binding assays, mutation studies, and computational modeling we demonstrate that G-quadruplexes can interact with the Platform–PAZ–Connector helix cassette of Dicer, the region responsible for anchoring microRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs). Consequently, we show that G-quadruplexes efficiently and stably inhibit the cleavage of pre-miRNA by Dicer. Our data highlight the potential of human Dicer for binding of G-quadruplexes and allow us to propose a G-quadruplex-driven sequestration mechanism of Dicer regulation.