AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Helicases are enzymes that bind and may even remodel nucleic acid or nucleic acid protein complexes. There are DNA and RNA helicases. DNA helicases are essential during DNA replication because they separate double-stranded DNA into single strands allowing each strand to be copied.

Detailed explanation-2: -Key enzyme involved in DNA replication, it is responsible for ‘unzipping’ the double helix structure by breaking the hydrogen bonds between bases on opposite strands of the DNA molecule.

Detailed explanation-3: -DNA Helicase and Its Function in Replication DNA helicase is an enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix by breaking the hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases.

Detailed explanation-4: -Helicases are involved in virtually all cellular processes that involve DNA and RNA. Their claim to fame, though, is unwinding DNA so it can be copied during cell division.

Detailed explanation-5: -History of DNA helicases DNA helicases were discovered in E. coli in 1976. This helicase was described as a “DNA unwinding enzyme” that is “found to denature DNA duplexes in an ATP-dependent reaction, without detectably degrading".