Scientists Discover Four-Stranded Elements of Maize DNA

Researchers from Florida State University and partners have identified DNA elements in maize that could influence the expression of hundreds or thousands of genes.

Hank Bass and Carson Andorf of Iowa State University started studying the maize genome sequence together with other researchers in FSU and University of Florida. They investigated if some DNA structures like the four-strand G-quadruplex (G4) DNA might be present in the maize DNA.

G4 structures are found in genes that control cancer and cell division in humans, but not much is known about them. Bass and his colleagues located 150,000 sequence motifs that could theoretically adopt the G4 DNA structure, and they were dispersed all over the chromosomes. Further examination exhibited that they occur in very specific locations. Because of such finding, it was concluded that G4 is likely to perform some sort of function. Initial results showed that many of the genes identified were implicated in responses to energy crises within plant cells.

Read the news article at http://news.fsu.edu/More-FSU-News/Maize-analysis-yields-whole-new-world-of-genetic-science and the research article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jgg.2014.10.004.