# Polymeric Properties of Telomeric G-Quadruplex Multimers: Effects of Chemically Inert Crowders

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new model to study flexible DNA structures called G-quadruplexes and finds they behave like polymers, becoming coiled and less stiff in crowded environments like inside cells.

## Contribution

A novel coarse-grained modeling approach for G-quadruplexes that captures their structural flexibility and polymeric behavior under crowding conditions.

## Key findings

- Long G-quadruplex multimers behave like flexible polymers with stiffness similar to monomer size.
- Crowded environments increase coiling and reduce chain stiffness of G-quadruplex multimers.

## Abstract

G-quadruplexes are noncanonical DNA structures rather
ubiquitous
in the human genome, which are thought to play a crucial role in the
development of the majority of cancers. Here, we present a novel coarse-grained
approach in modeling G-quadruplexes that accounts for their structural
flexibility. We apply it to study the polymeric properties of G-quadruplex
multimers, with and without crowder molecules, to mimic in vivo conditions.
We find that, contrary to some suggestions found in the literature,
long G-quadruplex multimers are rather flexible polymeric macromolecules,
with a local persistence length comparable to monomer size, exhibiting
a chain stiffness variation profile consistent with a real polymer
in good solvent. Moreover, in a crowded environment (up to 10% volume
fraction), we report that G-quadruplex multimers exhibit an increased
propensity for coiling, with a corresponding decrease in the measured
chain stiffness.