Nobel Prize-winning technique sheds new light on DNA replication

An imaging technique used to reveal the molecular detail of structures has helped scientists to shed new light on how organisms copy their DNA. The international team, which included Imperial scientists, used cryo-electron microscopy - the technique behind this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry - to reveal the structure of a key enzyme involved in the earliest steps of the DNA replication process. DNA replication is fundamental to all living cells, enabling them to divide for growth, but mistakes in this carefully orchestrated process can be catastrophic for cells and lead to devastating disease. We have managed to reveal another very important piece of the puzzle of how cells make new copies of their DNA Dr Christian Speck Institute of Clinical Sciences By studying the structure of the enzymes behind the process and which carefully unravel and copy DNA, scientists hope to shed new light on the process. The international team, led by Imperial College London, the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory and the Van Andel Research Institute, studied one of these enzymes, called Mcm2-7 Professor Christian Speck, from the Institute for Clinical Sciences at Imperial, said: "We have managed to reveal another very important piece of the puzzle of how cells make new copies of their DNA. Helicases are crucial to this fundamental process, and techniques like cryo-EM are enabling us to capture a much clearer image of what they look like and how they work." - Duplicating DNA. Before replication can begin, two enzymes called helicases form a single unit on the DNA double helix.