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A helicase staircase

A new crystal structure reveals the path taken by single-stranded (ss) DNA through the central channel of a hexameric helicase. The path resembles a spiral staircase and provides an answer to the question of how hexameric helicases translocate on ssDNA.

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Figure 1: Mechanism for translocation of BPV E1 on ssDNA.

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Raney, K. A helicase staircase. Nat Struct Mol Biol 13, 671–672 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb0806-671

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