Title
Single-base pair unwinding and asynchronous RNA release by the hepatitis C virus NS3 helicase
Date Issued
23 October 2011
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States
Harvard University, Center for Systems Biology, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
Publisher(s)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Abstract
Nonhexameric helicases use adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to unzip base pairs in double-stranded nucleic acids (dsNAs). Studies have suggested that these helicases unzip dsNAs in single-base pair increments, consuming one ATP molecule per base pair, but direct evidence for this mechanism is lacking. We used optical tweezers to follow the unwinding of double-stranded RNA by the hepatitis C virus NS3 helicase. Single-base pair steps by NS3 were observed, along with nascent nucleotide release that was asynchronous with base pair opening. Asynchronous release of nascent nucleotides rationalizes various observations of its dsNA unwinding and may be used to coordinate the translocation speed of NS3 along the RNA during viral replication.
Start page
1746
End page
1749
Volume
333
Issue
6050
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Radiología, Medicina nuclear, Imágenes médicas
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-80053144268
Source
Science
ISSN of the container
00368075
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus