{"id":244997,"date":"2026-10-06T22:12:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/blue-light-labeling-uncovers-unexpected-protein-partners-of-folded-dna-structures"},"modified":"2026-10-06T22:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:12:33","slug":"blue-light-labeling-uncovers-unexpected-protein-partners-of-folded-dna-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/blue-light-labeling-uncovers-unexpected-protein-partners-of-folded-dna-structures","title":{"rendered":"Blue-light labeling uncovers unexpected protein partners of folded DNA structures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/blue-light-labeling-uncovers-unexpected-protein-partners-of-folded-dna-structures2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>DNA can be more than just a double helix. When four strands are folded into a compact bundle, they form a G-quadruplex (G4). These bundles form in guanine-rich regions across the genome, including telomeres at the ends of chromosomes and the control regions of genes, where the proteins that dock onto them help decide which genes are switched on. G4 does not act the same way everywhere. What it does depends on where it forms and which proteins bind to it. This is why understanding the interactions surrounding G4 is so important.<\/p>\n<p>Biochemical assays give us more information about the intricacies of these interactions. These assays assess how DNA and proteins interact during processes such as DNA replication, transcription and repair. However, previous assays haven\u2019t been able to capture the full picture.<\/p>\n<p>A team led by Kazumitsu Onizuka and Shinichi Sato of Tohoku University, with Takanori Oyoshi of Shizuoka University, has developed a photocatalytic proximity labeling method that overcomes previous pitfalls and captures partners that earlier methods missed. The technique also revealed hexokinase-1 to be an unexpected player in these interactions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DNA can be more than just a double helix. When four strands are folded into a compact bundle, they form a G-quadruplex (G4). These bundles form in guanine-rich regions across the genome, including telomeres at the ends of chromosomes and the control regions of genes, where the proteins that dock onto them help decide which [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-chemistry","category-life-extension"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}