InterPro domain: IPR027925

This entry represents the N-terminal region of MCM proteins. This region is composed of three structural domains. Firstly a four helical bundle, secondly a zinc binding motif and thirdly an OB-like fold [ 1 ].

MCM proteins are DNA-dependent ATPases required for the initiation ofeukaryotic DNA replication [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. In eukaryotes there is a family of six proteins, MCM2 to MCM7. They were first identified in yeast where most of them have adirect role in the initiation of chromosomal DNA replication by interacting directly with autonomously replicating sequences (ARS). They were thus called minichromosome maintenance proteins, MCM proteins [ 5 ].

1. The structure and function of MCM from archaeal M. Thermoautotrophicum. Nat. Struct. Biol. 10, 160-7
2. Fission yeast cdc21+ belongs to a family of proteins involved in an early step of chromosome replication. Nucleic Acids Res. 20, 5571-7
3. The P1 family: a new class of nuclear mammalian proteins related to the yeast Mcm replication proteins. Nucleic Acids Res. 21, 5289-93
4. The MCM2-3-5 proteins: are they replication licensing factors? Trends Cell Biol. 4, 160-6
5. A common set of conserved motifs in a vast variety of putative nucleic acid-dependent ATPases including MCM proteins involved in the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication. Nucleic Acids Res. 21, 2541-7