Geometric Formalism for DNA Quadruplex F olding

Understanding the control of self-assemblyand stereochemical properties of DNA higher orderACHTUNGTRENUNGarchitectural folds is of fundamental importance in biologyas well as biochemical technological applications.Guanine-rich DNA sequences can form tetrahelicalACHTUNGTRENUNGarchitectures termed quadruplexes. A formalism is presenteddescribing the interdependency of a set of structuraldescriptors as a geometric basis for folding of unimolecularquadruplex topologies. It represents a standardfor interpretation of structural characteristics ofquadruplexes, and is comprehensive in explicitly harmonizingthe results of published literature with a unifiedlanguage. The formalism is a fundamental step towardsprediction of unimolecular quadruplex folding topologiesfrom primary sequence.