Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
DNA helicases are frequently attracted to regions of DNA damage and are essential for cellular DNA replication, recombination, repair, and transcription. Chemical manipulation of their molecular processes can change the rate at which cancer cells divide, as well as, the efficiency of transactions and cellular homeostasis.
The process of semiconservative replication for the site of DNA replication is a fork-like DNA structure, the replication fork, where the DNA helix is open, or unwound, exposing unpaired DNA nucleotides for recognition and base pairing for the incorporation of free nucleotides into double-stranded DNA. [3]
The replication fork is a structure that forms within the long helical DNA during DNA replication. It is produced by enzymes called helicases that break the hydrogen bonds that hold the DNA strands together in a helix.
The structure of the helicase has been solved at high resolution and indicates "inchworming" as the mechanism of translocation on single-stranded DNA. A Mexican-wave model has been proposed based on the changes in conformation of the helicase observed in the product versus substrate complex.
DNA is a duplex formed by two anti-parallel strands. Following Meselson-Stahl, the process of DNA replication is semi-conservative, whereby during replication the original DNA duplex is separated into two daughter strands (referred to as the leading and lagging strand templates). Each daughter strand becomes part of a new DNA duplex.
When Mcm2-7 is first loaded it completely encircles the DNA and helicase activity is inhibited. In S phase, the Mcm2-7 complex interacts with helicase cofactors Cdc45 and GINS to isolate a single DNA strand, unwind the origin, and begin replication down the chromosome. In order to have bidirectional replication, this process happens twice at an ...
The crystal structure of the Ter DNA-Tus protein complex (A) showing the nonblocking and the fork-blocking faces of Tus. (B) A cross-sectional view of the helicase-arresting surface. Replication of the DNA separating the opposing replication forks leaves the completed chromosomes joined as ‘catenanes’ or topologically interlinked circles ...
The replication of DNA with a broken sugar-phosphate backbone is most likely facilitated by the homologous recombination proteins that confer resistance to ionizing radiation. The activity of PRR enzymes is regulated by the SOS response in bacteria and may be controlled by the postreplication checkpoint response in eukaryotes.