Hepatitis-promoting protein caught in the act
By Greg Kline
Sunday September 16, 2007
Vanda Bidwell
Professors Sua Myong, left, and Taekjip Ha are exploring how helicase protein molecules work on unwinding DNA and RNA molecules to expose genetic code and make new genes.
When your body, or a nasty virus invading it, cooks up a batch of genes, helicases – an enzyme, or type of catalyzing protein molecule – appear to be bigger than Betty Crocker in the kitchen.
The tasks performed by the proteins apparently include the unwinding of the tightly coiled ribbonlike DNA and RNA molecules containing the instructions for gene making.
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