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One motor driving two translocases

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 17, pages 1166–1167 (2010)Cite this article

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In this issue, Wu et al. show that the RecBC helicase, which is involved in repairing double-strand DNA breaks, uses one ATPase motor to drive two translocases along opposite strands of DNA—much as an all-wheel drive engine controls movement of both front and back wheels. This mechanism may allow RecBC to load onto blunt-end DNA more efficiently and to move through obstacles such as gaps and DNA damage.

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Figure 1: Mechanism of RecBC helicase movement on double-stranded DNA.

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  1. Smita S. Patel is in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.,

    Smita S Patel

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  1. Smita S Patel
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Correspondence to Smita S Patel.

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Patel, S. One motor driving two translocases. Nat Struct Mol Biol 17, 1166–1167 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb1010-1166

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