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IMAGE: Associate Professor Marcia Levitus from the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University view more
Credit: Mary Zhu
Many proteins are required to maintain the structure, and to preserve the genetic integrity, of DNA. Sliding clamps are proteins that increase the efficiency of DNA replication. Without these proteins, cells would not be able to carry out continuous DNA synthesis, and organisms, from bacteria to humans, would not survive.
Sliding clamps are ring-shaped proteins that encircle DNA and bind to the DNA polymerase, the enzyme that performs the actual DNA replication. They effectively organize and orient the DNA and its ancillary proteins so as to enable replication. Sliding clamps are oligomeric proteins; they are made up of more than one identical copy of individual proteins called monomers.