Helikaz

Helikaz is a term used in several languages to denote helicase, a class of enzymes that unwind double-stranded nucleic acids. In biology literature, helikaz is commonly used to refer to these ATP-dependent motor proteins that are essential for many cellular processes involving nucleic acids.

Helicases function by translocating along DNA or RNA and separating the strands, using energy released from ATP hydrolysis to drive mechanical movement. They act on DNA and RNA substrates and participate in a variety of pathways, including DNA replication, repair, recombination, and transcription. Helicases are grouped into several superfamilies, distinguished by conserved sequence motifs and the direction in which they move along nucleic acids, which can be 5' to 3' or 3' to 5'.

In cells, helicases contribute to the initiation and progression of replication forks, processing of Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand, base-excision repair, and homologous recombination. Because they maintain genome stability, defects in helicases can compromise genomic integrity and have been linked to developmental disorders and predisposition to cancer in humans. Structural studies show that helicase proteins typically feature a catalytic core formed by RecA-like domains, often accompanied by regulatory accessory domains that modulate activity and interactions.

The term helikaz may also appear in cultural or commercial contexts where it is used as a name or designation unrelated to biology.