Telling Your Right Hand from Your Left: The Effects of DNA Supercoil Handedness on the Actions of Type II Topoisomerases.

Type II topoisomerases are essential enzymes that modulate the topological state of DNA supercoiling in all living organisms. These enzymes alter DNA topology by performing double-stranded passage reactions on over- or underwound DNA substrates. This strand passage reaction generates a transient covalent enzyme-cleaved DNA structure known as the cleavage complex.

Basis for the discrimination of supercoil handedness during DNA cleavage by human and bacterial type II topoisomerases.

To perform double-stranded DNA passage, type II topoisomerases generate a covalent enzyme-cleaved DNA complex (i.e. cleavage complex).

Discovery of Widespread Host Protein Interactions with the Pre-replicated Genome of CHIKV Using VIR-CLASP.

The primary interactions between incoming viral RNA genomes and host proteins are crucial to infection and immunity. Until now, the ability to study these events was lacking. We developed viral cross-linking and solid-phase purification (VIR-CLASP) to characterize the earliest interactions between viral RNA and cellular proteins.

Transglutaminase-6 is an autoantigen in progressive multiple sclerosis and is upregulated in reactive astrocytes.

Background: Transglutaminase-6 (TGM6), a member of the transglutaminase enzyme family, is found predominantly in central nervous system (CNS) neurons under physiological conditions. It has been proposed as an autoimmune target in cerebral palsy, gluten-sensitive cerebellar ataxia, and schizophrenia.

Objective: To investigate TGM6 involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS).