Relax and Unwind with the Reversible Molecular Scissors: DNA Topoisomerases

While we often think of DNA as an information storage molecule, it is also a polymer of vast length on a cellular scale. The chromosomes of one human cell stretched to full length and placed end to end would be about 2 meters long. How do our cells keep that polymer from becoming entangled? One major player in this story are the enzymes we know as DNA topoisomerases. In this talk, we will focus on the DNA untangler: topoisomerase II and explore the structure, function, and regulation of these amazing molecular machines