The "ORC" Twists, Pinches, and Dances Around DNA (VIDEO)
Caption
The Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) is a key piece of cellular machinery, fundamental to life, yet so far mysterious. This video shows the shape of the ORC in 3D with and without DNA. One clip shows how the ORC twists and pinches. ORC2 can swing around the other proteins to cover the cavity where DNA binds. Some shapes can form an energy processing structure; the researchers think that energy is required to shift some subunits into other forms. The scientists speculate that at least some of these movements are critical for the ORC to initiate replication or for it to be ejected from the origin site once the rest of the replication machinery arrives. The images and video clips were made using Cryosparc 2 and UCSF ChimeraX software.
Credit
Matt Jaremko/CSHL Joshua-Tor lab
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