Processivity, Velocity, and Universal Characteristics of Nucleic Acid Unwinding by Helicases.

ABSTRACT: Helicases are components of the cellular replisome that are essential for unwinding double-strand nucleic acids during the process of replication. Intriguingly, most helicases are inefficient and require either oligomerization or assistance from other partner proteins to increase the processivity of unwinding in the presence of the replication fork, which acts as a barrier to progress. Single-molecule force spectroscopy has emerged as a promising experimental technique to probe how relieving this barrier on the helicase can allow for increased efficiency of unwinding. However, there exists no comprehensive theoretical framework to provide unique interpretations of the underlying helicase kinetics from the force spectroscopy data. This remains a major confounding issue in the field. Here, w

SUBMITTER: Chakrabarti S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6731385 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature