The AID/APOBEC family of nucleic acid mutators.

ABSTRACT: The AID/APOBECs, a group of cytidine deaminases, represent a somewhat unusual protein family that can insert mutations in DNA and RNA as a result of their ability to deaminate cytidine to uridine. The ancestral AID/APOBECs originated from a branch of the zinc-dependent deaminase superfamily at the beginning of the vertebrate radiation. Other members of the family have arisen in mammals and present a history of complex gene duplications and positive selection. All AID/APOBECs have a characteristic zinc-coordination motif, which forms the core of the catalytic site. The crystal structure of human APOBEC2 shows remarkable similarities to that of the bacterial tRNA-editing enzyme TadA, which suggests a conserved mechanism by which polynucleotides are recognized and deaminated. The AID/APOBECs

SUBMITTER: Conticello SG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2481415 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature