title: A novel superfamily of nucleoside triphosphate-binding motif containing proteins which are probably involved in duplex unwinding in DNA and RNA replication and recombination.
abstract: A statistically significant similarity was demonstrated between the amino acid sequences of 4 Escherichia coli helicases and helicase subunits, a family of non-structural proteins of eukaryotic positive-strand RNA viruses and 2 herpesvirus proteins all of which contain an NTP-binding sequence motif. Based on sequence analysis and secondary structure predictions, a generalized structural model for the ATP-binding core is proposed. It is suggested that all these proteins constitute a superfamily of helicases (or helicase subunits) involved in NTP-dependent duplex unwinding during DNA and RNA replication and recombination.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitides, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow Region.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Gorbalenya
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Koonin
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Donchenko
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Blinov
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001665:Binding Sites; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000378:metabolism*; D004261:DNA Replication; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D004265:DNA Helicases