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Review
. 2021 Feb 15;402(5):529-559.
doi: 10.1515/hsz-2020-0362. Print 2021 Apr 27.

Regulation of RNA helicase activity: principles and examples

Pascal Donsbach  1 , Dagmar Klostermeier  1
Affiliations
Review

Regulation of RNA helicase activity: principles and examples

Pascal Donsbach et al. Biol Chem. .

Abstract

RNA helicases are a ubiquitous class of enzymes involved in virtually all processes of RNA metabolism, from transcription, mRNA splicing and export, mRNA translation and RNA transport to RNA degradation. Although ATP-dependent unwinding of RNA duplexes is their hallmark reaction, not all helicases catalyze unwinding in vitro, and some in vivo functions do not depend on duplex unwinding. RNA helicases are divided into different families that share a common helicase core with a set of helicase signature motives. The core provides the active site for ATP hydrolysis, a binding site for non-sequence-specific interaction with RNA, and in many cases a basal unwinding activity. Its activity is often regulated by flanking domains, by interaction partners, or by self-association. In this review, we summarize the regulatory mechanisms that modulate the activities of the helicase core. Case studies on selected helicases with functions in translation, splicing, and RNA sensing illustrate the various modes and layers of regulation in time and space that harness the helicase core for a wide spectrum of cellular tasks.

Keywords: RNA binding; RNA unwinding; helicase; mechanism; regulation.

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References

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