Untangling G-Quadruplexes in DNA: The Effects of Nucleotide Excision Repair

Authors

• Jaidelin Alvardo, St. Mary's University
• Abiageal Riley, St. Mary's University
• Erick Morales Orrante, St. Mary's University
• Raynne Malik, St. Mary's University

Files

Contributor

Berroyer, Alexandra (Faculty Mentor)

Digital Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Keywords

Nucleotide Excision Repair, DNA

Description

Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) remo ves bulky DNA lesions that are attributed to UV irradiation, environmental mutagens, and chemo-therapeutic agents (Schärer, CSH Perspectives Biology, 2013). G4- quadruplexes are formed by four guanines hydrogen bonded together to form a planar ring, and stacking of the hydrophobic G quartets stabilizes the quadruplex structure Capra et al.,PLoS Computational Biology, 2010). A surplus of this structure is linked to genomic Instability and cancer development.

Prior studies indicate that because NER eliminates large lesions of DNA, there may be a link to the removal of G4-quadruplexes through Nucleotide Excision Repair (De Magis et al, Nature,2020). Dr. Alexandra Berroyer's research on human cells was applied to this experiment to test if NER-deficient yeast is more sensitive to treatment with G4-binding drugs than in NER-proficient yeast. We hypothesize that NER removes G-quadruplexes from DNA and prevents DNA damage caused by them, which in turn causes NER deficient yeast to display an increased sensitivity to G4-binding drugs.

Format

PDF

Size

1 poster

City

San Antonio, Texas

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.