Selective recognition of human telomeric G-quadruplex with designed peptide via hydrogen bonding followed by base stacking interactions

A new synthetic peptide is presented. A Glu residue binds through H-bonding to a guanine-base and a Trp residue intercalates with K+ resulting in stabilization of a human telomeric G-quadruplex with high selectivity over a complementary c-rich strand and double-stranded DNA.