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Review

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 1, 22–30 (1 October 2000) | doi:10.1038/35036044

A tale of toroids in DNA metabolism

Manju M. Hingorani & Mike O'Donnell

A strikingly large number of the proteins involved in DNA metabolism adopt a toroidal ? or ring-shaped ? quaternary structure, even though they have completely unrelated functions. Given that these proteins all use DNA as a substrate, their convergence to one shape is probably not a coincidence. Ring-forming proteins may have been selected during evolution for advantages conferred by the toroidal shape on their interactions with DNA.