Nature Communications (Dec 2021)

Kinetic and structural mechanism for DNA unwinding by a non-hexameric helicase

  • Sean P. Carney,
  • Wen Ma,
  • Kevin D. Whitley,
  • Haifeng Jia,
  • Timothy M. Lohman,
  • Zaida Luthey-Schulten,
  • Yann R. Chemla

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27304-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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UvrD is a model helicase from the non-hexameric Superfamily 1. Here, the authors use optical tweezers to measure directly the stepwise translocation of UvrD along a DNA hairpin, and propose a mechanism in which UvrD moves one base pair at a time, but sequesters the nascent single strands, releasing them after a variable number of ATP hydrolysis cycles.