Related Experiment Videos
Unwinding the 'Gordian knot' of helicase action
1School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD, Nottingham, UK.
Trends in Biochemical Sciences
|February 13, 2001
Abstract:
Helicases are enzymes involved in every aspect of nucleic acid metabolism. Recent structural and biochemical evidence is beginning to provide details of their molecular mechanism of action. Crystal structures of helicases have revealed an underlying common structural fold. However, although there are many similarities between the mechanisms of different classes of helicase, not all aspects of the helicase activity are the same in all members of this enzyme family.