The Effect of Adenine Repeats on G‐quadruplex/hemin Peroxidase Mimicking DNAzyme Activity

Abstract The catalytic activity of G‐quadruplex/hemin is much lower than that of proteinous enzymes, so it is very important to increase its activity. Very recently, flanking sequences, which can be regarded as an external part of G‐quadruplexes, were found to enhance the activity of G‐quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme. However, little is known about the effect of internal parts, such as loop sequences and linkers, on the activity. In the present study, adenine repeats were incorporated into several designed G‐quadruplex structures either in the loops, bulges, or linkers, and the constructed G‐quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme exhibit about fivefold improvement in peroxidase‐mimicking activity in some cases. The enhancement effect may result from the formation of compound I, protoporphyrin⋅FeIV=O.+, accelerated by dA repeats, which was demonstrated by H2O2 decay kinetics and pH dependency analysis. The novel enhancement methods described here may help in the development of high‐activity DNAzymes, illustrated by a dimer G‐quadruplex with flanking adenine at one end, a relatively long adenine run in one loop, and another adenine run in the linker.