Cationic comb-type copolymer as a nucleic acid chaperone for DNA quadruplex.

The intermolecular DNA quadruplex is attractive materials for design of nanomolecular constructs and machines. This folding kinetics is, however, slow, hampering its application to these materials. We have reported that the cationic comb-type copolymer accelerated duplex and triplex formation. In this study, the effect of the copolymer on the intermolecular quadruplex folding was investigated. The copolymer was found to accelerate the association of intermolecular quadruplex by three-orders. Furthermore, the copolymer induced the strand exchange reaction between intermolecular quadruplex and its single-stranded counterparts. We suggested that the copolymer acts as a nucleic acid chaperone for the intermolecular quadruplex.