Modularity and Specialization in Superfamily 1 and 2 Helicases
Year: 2002
Type: review
Abstract: The family of nucleic acid (NA) strand separation enzymes known as helicases are found in all organisms and participate in a wide variety of cellular processes. The central reaction catalyzed is always the same: hydrolysis of a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP; usually ATP) is coupled to the separation of an NA duplex, be it DNA-DNA, DNA-RNA, or RNA-RNA. This central process is required in almost every aspect of NA metabolism in the cell, including chromosomal and plasmid replication, transcription, translation, RNA processing, and DNA recombination and repair (30, 46). This widespread usage may be seen by examining the cellular complement of helicases; for example, at least 12 putative DNA helicases have been identified in the genome of Escherichia coli, while it has been estimated that more than 2% of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome encodes helicase-related proteins (48).
Source: Journal of Bacteriology
Authors: Martin R. Singleton, Dale B. Wigley
Language: English
Topic: DNA Repair Mechanisms
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2147805925