Grip it and rip it: structural mechanisms of DNA helicase substrate binding and unwinding.

ABSTRACT: Maintenance and faithful transmission of genomic information depends on the efficient execution of numerous DNA replication, recombination, and repair pathways. Many of the enzymes that catalyze steps within these pathways require access to sequence information that is buried in the interior of the DNA double helix, which makes DNA unwinding an essential cellular reaction. The unwinding process is mediated by specialized molecular motors called DNA helicases that couple the chemical energy derived from nucleoside triphosphate hydrolysis to the otherwise non-spontaneous unwinding reaction. An impressive number of high-resolution helicase structures are now available that, together with equally important mechanistic studies, have begun to define the features that allow this class of enzymes

SUBMITTER: Bhattacharyya B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4241101 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature