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. 1984 Aug 24;12(16):6603–6614. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.16.6603

Poly(pyrimidine) . poly(purine) synthetic DNAs containing 5-methylcytosine form stable triplexes at neutral pH.

J S Lee, M L Woodsworth, L J Latimer, A R Morgan
PMCID: PMC320099  PMID: 6473110

Abstract

Poly(pyrimidine) . poly(purine) tracts have been discovered in the 5'-flanking regions of many eucaryotic genes. They may be involved in the regulation of expression since they can be mapped to the nuclease-sensitive sites of active chromatin. We have found that poly(pyrimidine) . poly(purine) DNAs which contain 5-methylcytosine (e.g. poly[d(Tm5C)] . poly[d(GA)]) will form a triplex at a pH below 8. In contrast, the unmethylated analogue, poly[d(TC)] . poly[d(GA)] only forms a triplex at pHs below 6. Synthetic DNAs containing repeating trinucleotides and poly[d(Um5C)] . poly[d(GA)] behave in a similar manner. Thus the stability of a triplex can be controlled by methylation of cytosine. This suggests a model for the regulation of expression based upon specific triplex formation on the 5'-side of eucaryotic genes.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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