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Cover Picture: Stabilization of Telomeric I‐Motif Structures by (2′ S )‐2′‐Deoxy‐2′‐ C ‐Methylcytidine Residues (ChemBioChem 12/2017)
Author(s) -
Aviñó Anna,
Dellafiore María,
Gargallo Raimundo,
González Carlos,
Iribarren Adolfo M.,
Montserrat Javier,
Eritja Ramon
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.201700269
Subject(s) - cytosine , motif (music) , chemistry , stereochemistry , nucleotide , crystallography , residue (chemistry) , dna , biochemistry , physics , acoustics , gene
The cover picture shows the C‐rich strand of the human telomere forming the structure known as the i‐motif. These are intercalated tetraplex structures stabilized by hemiprotonated cytosine base pairs (C−CH + ), and favorable sugar–sugar contacts. There is much interest in the design of modified cytosine derivatives capable of modulating the i‐motif stability with special attention to obtaining i‐motif structures at neutral pH values. In our paper, we show that the introduction of (2′ S )‐2′‐deoxy‐2′‐ C ‐methylcytidine residues, represented in the upper part of the figure, into i‐motif‐forming sequences generates more stable structures, especially at neutral pH. The preference of the 2′‐ C ‐methylcytidine residue for the North sugar conformation is probably the main factor in the stabilization. The “frozen” conformation of the nucleotide is combined with the breathtaking icy landscape of the Perito Moreno glacier located in Patagonia (Argentinia), the country where this compound was prepared. More information can be found in the full paper by A. Aviñó, R. Eritja, et al. on page 1123 in Issue 12, 2017 (DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201700112).