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Updated: May 15, 2026

Simple and Fast Rolling Circle Amplification-Based Detection of Topoisomerase 1 Activity in Crude Biological Samples
Published on: December 2, 2022
New insights into DNA-binding by type IIA topoisomerases
Chih-Chiang Chang1, Ying-Ren Wang, Shin-Fu Chen
1Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract:
Type IIA topoisomerases catalyze the passage of two DNA duplexes across each other to resolve the entanglements and coiling of cellular DNA. The ability of these enzymes to interact simultaneously but differentially with two DNA segments is central to their DNA-manipulating functions: one duplex DNA is bound and cleaved to produce a transient double-strand break through which another DNA segment can be transported. Recent structural analyses have revealed in atomic detail how type IIA enzymes contact DNA and how the enzyme-DNA interactions may be exploited by drugs to achieve therapeutic purposes. This review summarizes these new findings, with a special focus on the assembly and structural features of the enzymes' composite DNA-binding surfaces.
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