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These structures have allowed us to propose a mechanism for capping enzymes, which is probably similar to that of DNA and RNA ligases.

Proposed mechanism of nucleotidyl transfer by the capping enzyme. In this scheme, molecules in the open conformation are shown in blue, while those in the closed conformation are depicted in gold. The side chain of the active site lysine is shown in blue, the nucleotide moiety (and anything to which it is attached) is shown in pink and mRNA is shown in yellow. a) apo enzyme b) enzyme-GTP complex, open conformation c) enzyme-GTP complex, closed conformation d) GMP adduct, closed conformation e) GMP adduct, open conformation f) GMPadduct-mRNA complex g) enzyme-capped mRNA complex.

A) Capping chemistry
B) Sequence and conserved motifs
C) Structure of mRNA capping enzyme
D) Binding of cap analogue
E) Reaction mechanism
F) Authors and references

These capping enzyme homepages were constructed by Kjell.