DNA is very stable in its double-stranded form. For many processes of DNA metabolism, such as replication, repair, recombination and transcription, the DNA has to be brought transiently into a single-stranded form. DNA helicases are enzymes capable of melting the hydrogen bonds of base pairs by using the energy of nucleoside-5'-triphosphate hydrolysis. This minireview focusses on the current knowledge of DNA helicases from eukaryotic cells.
