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The ring-type polymerase sliding clamp family.

2001; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 2; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1186/gb-2001-2-1-reviews3001

1465-6914

Irina Bruck, Mike O’Donnell,

Microtubule and mitosis dynamics

Ring-type polymerases consist of a DNA polymerase, a ring-shaped sliding clamp protein and a clamp-loading complex. Sliding clamp proteins are found in all organisms and are called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in eukaryotes and the β clamp in prokaryotes. Both PCNA and β form a ring around DNA, which is made up of two subunits of three domains each in β but three subunits of two domains each in PCNA. Despite this difference and a lack of detectable sequence homology, the structures of the two rings are very similar. The sliding clamp slides along DNA and tethers the polymerase to the DNA, enabling rapid and processive DNA replication.