Protein-mediated base flipping.
Since the discovery that the DNA methyltransferase M.HhaI utilises a base flipping mechanism to expose its target cytosine during catalysis, this phenomenon has been observed in other nucleic acid modifying enzymes. The crystallographic analyses of such enzyme-DNA complexes have revealed the molecular features of extrahelical base stabilisation, but have been less informative about the flipping process itself.
Hornby
DP
Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research Department of Molecular Biology University of Sheffield Western Bank Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK d.hornby@sheffield.ac.uk
Ford
GC