title: The Pif1p subfamily of helicases: region-specific DNA helicases?
abstract: DNA helicases are required for DNA replication, recombination and repair. Despite a common enzymatic function - the ability to unwind duplex DNA - most helicases share only limited amino acid sequence similarity. Helicases that have significant sequence similarity define a subfamily. It remains unclear, however, how this sequence similarity relates to helicase function. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Pif1p helicase is the prototype member of a helicase subfamily that is conserved from yeasts to humans. As the two Pif1p subfamily members studied to date affect the same DNA sequences, the amino acid similarity that defines this subfamily might reflect common substrates.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bessler
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Zakian
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D019098:Telomerase / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D019098:Telomerase; C085463:PIF1 protein, S cerevisiae; D004265:DNA Helicases