Preparing to unwind

Jin Chuan Zhou,Alessandro Costa

doi:10.7554/elife.02618

Abstract

A combination of protein crystallography and biochemistry has revealed how a ring-shaped helicase might trap a single DNA strand as the double helix melts, and before it is unwound.

Highlights

Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) show how the leading strand template becomes selected as the ‘translocation strand’ by a helicase at a molecular level (Froelich et al, 2014)
For example, two copies of the helicase are loaded as single rings onto an already separated DNA duplex, and they immediately start moving in opposite directions along the lagging strands to unwind the DNA (Mott and Berger, 2007)
Two complexes are loaded onto the DNA as a double ring, and the rings only start moving along the leading strand templates after multiple chemical modifications have been made and various other activating factors have been recruited (Remus and Diffley, 2009; Remus et al, 2009; Fu et al, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

For example, two copies of the helicase are loaded as single rings onto an already separated DNA duplex, and they immediately start moving in opposite directions along the lagging strands to unwind the DNA (Mott and Berger, 2007). Two complexes are loaded onto the DNA as a double ring, and the rings only start moving along the leading strand templates after multiple chemical modifications have been made and various other activating factors have been recruited (Remus and Diffley, 2009; Remus et al, 2009; Fu et al, 2011).

Results

Conclusion