title: Double-stranded RNA-specific adenosine deaminase: nucleic acid binding properties.
abstract: The RNA-specific adenosine deaminase (ADAR1, herein referred to as ADAR) is an interferon-inducible RNA-editing enzyme. ADAR catalyzes the C-6 deamination of adenosine in double-stranded (ds) structures present in viral RNAs and cellular pre-mRNAs as well as synthetic dsRNA substrates. ADAR possesses three functionally distinct copies of the highly conserved double-stranded RNA binding R motif (RI, RII, RIII) implicated in the recognition of dsRNA structures within the substrate RNAs. ADAR is also a Z-DNA-binding protein. Two Z-DNA binding motifs (Zalpha and Zbeta) present in ADAR correspond to repeated regions homologous to the N-terminal region of the vaccinia virus E3L protein. Here we describe assay methods for measurement of ADAR enzymatic activity, dsRNA binding activity, and Z-DNA binding activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Samuel
mesh_terms: D000243:Adenosine Deaminase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D011485:Protein Binding; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C567955:ADARB1 protein, human; D000243:Adenosine Deaminase