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Details for Professor Mark Dillingham

Personal details
Name Professor Mark Dillingham
Job title Professor of Biochemistry
Department School of Biochemistry University of Bristol
Contact details This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations Office.

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work+44 (0)117 331 8092
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Qualifications B.Sc.(Bristol), Ph.D.(Oxon.)
Professional details
Keywords helicases
proteins
motor proteins
duplex nucleic acids
Areas of expertise Helicases as modular components of DNA processing machines:

Helicases are motor proteins that translocate along and unwind duplex nucleic acids into their component single strands in an ATP-dependent manner. They are exceptionally abundant enzymes and constitute about 1% of the proteome. Accordingly, they are involved in a wide variety of nucleic acid transactions including DNA replication, repair, recombination and transcription and virtually every aspect of RNA metabolism.

An increasing body of evidence suggests that Superfamily I DNA helicases act as modular units that are programmed to fulfil specific cellular tasks by accessory domains and/or interactions with other proteins. Our research is focused on uncovering the role of such helicases in complex DNA manipulations, such as the processing of broken DNA for repair by homologous recombination. We are also interested in understanding the structural basis for the activation and catalytic modulation of helicase activity, afforded by interaction with partner proteins.