Members of this family include the DEAD and DEAH box helicases. Helicases are involved in unwinding nucleic acids. The DEAD box helicases are involved in various aspects of RNA metabolism, including nuclear transcription, pre mRNA splicing, ribosome biogenesis, nucleocytoplasmic transport, translation, RNA decay and organellar gene expression.

1: Unwinding RNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: DEAD-box proteins and related families. de la Cruz J, Kressler D, Linder P; Trends Biochem Sci 1999;24:192-198. PMID:10322435

2: The DEAD box RNA helicase family in Arabidopsis thaliana. Aubourg S, Kreis M, Lecharny A; Nucleic Acids Res 1999;27:628-636. PMID:9862990