Processivity, velocity and universal characteristics of nucleic acid unwinding by helicases (Biophysical Journal)

Helicases are components of the cellular replisome, that are essential for unwinding double strand nucleic acids during the process of replication. Intriguingly, most helicases are inefficient and require either oligomerization or assistance from other partner proteins to increase the processivity of unwinding in the presence of the replication fork, which acts as a barrier to progress. Single molecule force spectroscopy has emerged as a promising experimental technique to probe how relieving this barrier tension on the helicase can allow for increased efficiency of unwinding.