title: Protein-protein interaction analysis for functional characterization of helicases.
abstract: Helicases are enzymes involved in nucleic acid metabolism, playing major roles in replication, transcription, and repair. Defining helicases oligomerization state and transient and persistent protein interactions is essential for understanding of their function. In this article we review current methods for the protein-protein interaction analysis, and discuss examples of its application to the study of helicases: Pif1 and DDX3. Proteomics methods are our main focus - affinity pull-downs and chemical cross-linking followed by mass spectrometry. We review advantages and limitations of these methods and provide general guidelines for their implementation in the functional analysis of helicases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, United States.
authors.forename: Boris L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zybailov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, United States.
authors.forename: Alicia K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, United States.
authors.forename: Galina V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Glazko
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, United States.
authors.forename: Yasir
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rahmatallah
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, United States. Electronic address: RaneyKevinD@uams.edu.
authors.forename: Kevin D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Raney
mesh_terms: D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics*; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004265:DNA Helicases
keywords: Biological networks; Chemical cross-linking; Helicase; Mass spectrometry; Protein oligomerization; Protein-protein interactions