Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

DNA helicases: 'inching forward'.

P Soultanas1, D B Wigley

  • 1Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RE, UK.

Current Opinion in Structural Biology
|February 19, 2000
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The human HELQ helicase and XRN2 exoribonuclease cooperate in R-loop resolution.

Open biology·2025
Same author

Dietary supplementation with ferric tyrosine improves zootechnical performance and reduces caecal <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. load in broilers.

British poultry science·2018
Same author

TYPLEX® Chelate, a novel feed additive, inhibits Campylobacter jejuni biofilm formation and cecal colonization in broiler chickens.

Poultry science·2018
Same author

RepD-mediated recruitment of PcrA helicase at the Staphylococcus aureus pC221 plasmid replication origin, oriD.

Nucleic acids research·2010
Same author

Structure of the N-terminal oligomerization domain of DnaD reveals a unique tetramerization motif and provides insights into scaffold formation.

Journal of molecular biology·2008
Same author

Clamp-loader-helicase interaction in Bacillus. Leucine 381 is critical for pentamerization and helicase binding of the Bacillus tau protein.

Biochemistry·2003
Same journal

Metabolic disruptions through a three-dimensional genomic lens.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
Same journal

Collective variable design for biomolecular conformational dynamics.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
Same journal

Polymer scaling in protein crowding: From dilute coils to semidilute meshes.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
Same journal

Tuning the physicochemical properties of rationally designed protein-based biomolecular condensates.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
Same journal

Editorial overview: Folding, binding and protein design.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
Same journal

Macromolecular crowding reshapes the conformational landscapes of intrinsically disordered proteins: mechanisms, cellular contexts, and functional consequences.

Current opinion in structural biology·2026
See all related articles

Recent crystal structures reveal PcrA helicase functions as a monomer, challenging prior oligomeric requirements for helicases. This finding advances our understanding of DNA helicase mechanisms and their diverse functional states.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Structural Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Helicases are crucial molecular machines that unwind DNA.
  • Previous models often assumed helicases function as oligomers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the mechanism of DNA helicase function.
  • To investigate the quaternary structure requirements for helicase activity.

Main Methods:

  • X-ray crystallography of PcrA helicase complexed with DNA.
  • Analysis of crystal structures of other helicases like RepA and T7 gene 4.

Main Results:

  • Crystal structures show PcrA helicase functions as a monomer.
  • PcrA and UvrD helicases are functional as monomers, contradicting oligomeric assumptions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Structures of hexameric helicases RepA and T7 gene 4 illustrate monomer assembly into hexamers.

    • Conclusions:

    • The functional monomeric state of PcrA helicase offers new insights into helicase mechanisms.
    • Helicases exhibit diverse quaternary structures, from monomers to hexamers.
    • Further research is needed to fully understand the molecular mechanisms of hexameric helicases.