Diverse dealings of the Werner helicase/nuclease

The human Werner syndrome is a model for the process of aging. The protein that is mutated in Werner syndrome, WRN, exhibits three catalytic activities: a 3'-to-5' helicase, a 3'-to-5' exonuclease, and an adenosine triphosphatase activity. WRN interacts with a variety of proteins and has been implicated in many aspects of DNA metabolism. A recent paper by Chen et al. published in the August 2003 issue of Aging Cell sheds some light on the multifunctional nature of WRN. It suggests that WRN may be considered as a structural protein, providing a plausible conceptual basis for the many WRN protein-protein interactions.