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'Screw-cap' clamp loader proteins that thread

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 11, pages 580–581 (2004)Cite this article

Structures of the clamp loader–clamp complex reveal that nature uses machined parts in the form of a spiral scaffold (the clamp loader) to thread a circlet (the clamp) on a helix of DNA. The scaffold is then replaced by an interpretive copying machine, the polymerase, to eventually generate the replisome for DNA replication.

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Figure 1: Overview of the RFC–PCNA complex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, 415 Wartik Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Zhihao Zhuang, Michelle M Spiering & Stephen J Benkovic

  2. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, 44106, Ohio, USA

    Anthony J Berdis

  3. MRC Cancer Cell Unit, Hutchinson/MRC Research Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2XZ, UK

    Michael A Trakselis

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  1. Zhihao Zhuang
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  5. Stephen J Benkovic
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Zhuang, Z., Spiering, M., Berdis, A. et al. 'Screw-cap' clamp loader proteins that thread. Nat Struct Mol Biol 11, 580–581 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb0704-580

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