Related Experiment Videos
Retroviral integrases and their cousins
P Rice1, R Craigie, D R Davies
1Laboratory of Molecular Biology,National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0540, USA.
Current Opinion in Structural Biology
|February 1, 1996
Abstract:
The recently determined structures of the catalytic domains of HIV integrase, avian sarcoma virus integrase and the Mu transposase are strikingly similar to each other and also exhibit significant similarity to several nucleases. All these enzymes of cut polynucleotides, leaving 3'OH and 5'PO4 groups. The integrase and transposase also possess a strand-transfer activity that splices DNA. The structural similarities among members of this superfamily of polynucleotidyl transferases suggest that they share a similar mechanism of catalysis.