Molecular DNA Switch Found to be the Same for All Life

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Protein crystallography at Berkeley Labs Advanced Light Source revealed that when DnaA protein binds with ATP the ring-shaped AAA proteins assemble into a right-handed helix.
Protein crystallography at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source revealed that when DnaA protein binds with ATP, the ring-shaped AAA+ proteins assemble into a right-handed helix.

The molecular machinery that starts the process by which a biological cell divides into two identical daughter cells apparently worked so well early on that evolution has conserved it across the eons in all forms of life on Earth. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have shown that the core machinery for initiating DNA replication is the same for all three domains of life - Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.


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