How does Helicase unwind the dna strands?what is the chemical Process

AI Thread Summary
Helicases unwind DNA strands by utilizing the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis, converting ATP and water into ADP and inorganic phosphate. This energy enables helicases to move directionally along DNA, whether double-stranded or single-stranded, and facilitates the separation of the two DNA strands. The precise mechanism by which helicases couple this chemical reaction to their movement and strand separation remains an area of active research. Some insights suggest that helicases may create a negative electrostatic charge around them, which could help in breaking hydrogen bonds during the unwinding process. Recent review papers provide further details on helicase function and ongoing studies aimed at elucidating their mechanisms.
ARAVIND113122
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
how does Helicase unwind the dna strands?what is the chemical Process involved?what is the chemical reaction?
 
Biology news on Phys.org
Helicases use the free energy from ATP hydrolysis (ATP + H2O --> ADP + PO4) in order to move directionally along DNA (double stranded and/or single stranded) as well as peel apart the two strands of DNA. How these enzymes couple this chemical reaction to movement of the helicase and strand separation is not completely understood and is an active area of research.

Here's a few recent review papers I talking more about how helicases work and ongoing experimental work trying to tease out their mechanism:

http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v9/n5/full/nrm2394.html
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7881876
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959440X11000042
 
Last edited by a moderator:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicase

Helicases as said above use ATP to move along the DNA strand, along the way they break hydrogen bonds I think by creating an area of negative electrostatic charge around them...At least that is what my mind is saying, but I may be mistaken
 
Thread 'Did they discover another descendant of homo erectus?'

Thread 'Did they discover another descendant of homo erectus?'

The study provides critical new insights into the African Humid Period, a time between 14,500 and 5,000 years ago when the Sahara desert was a green savanna, rich in water bodies that facilitated human habitation and the spread of pastoralism. Later aridification turned this region into the world's largest desert. Due to the extreme aridity of the region today, DNA preservation is poor, making this pioneering ancient DNA study all the more significant. Genomic analyses reveal that the...
View full post »

Thread 'Here comes COVID-19 version BA.2, BA.4, BA.5,...'

Popular article referring to the BA.2 variant: Popular article: (many words, little data) https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.html Preprint article referring to the BA.2 variant: Preprint article: (At 52 pages, too many words!) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.14.480335v1.full.pdf [edited 1hr. after posting: Added preprint Abstract] Cheers, Tom
View full post »

Similar threads

Medical Where does the secretion of enzyme helicase take place?
Replies
1
Views
1K
Why does the DNA codon ACG code for threonine in the RNA codon table?
Replies
12
Views
3K
Proteins that duplicate the DNA in interphase
Replies
8
Views
3K
Chemical reaction vs chemical process
Replies
6
Views
3K
Can DNA reveal a person's enzyme deficiencies or lack of enzymes?
Replies
8
Views
2K
Do both strands of DNA contain genes?
Replies
15
Views
24K
How do correct DNA strands get to attach at the centromere?
Replies
6
Views
4K
What is strain? Why does DNA coil upon itself?
Replies
2
Views
3K
Nanopores for sequencing DNA - question on beads?
Replies
4
Views
3K
What Are Alleles and How Do They Influence Human Traits?
Replies
7
Views
4K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top