Symbol MCM Pfam clan CL0023 SMART SM00350 | Pfam PF00493 InterPro IPR001208 PROSITE PDOC00662 | |
 | ||
Minichromosome maintenance protein complex (MCM) is a eukaryotic DNA helicase complex required for the process of DNA replication, specifically the formation and elongation of the replication fork. It is a hexamer of six related polypeptides (MCM2 through MCM7) that form a ring structure. MCM is a component of the pre-replication complex that forms at the eukaryotic origin of replication.
Control of MCM activity in the cell is partly achieved by its sumoylation. During cell cycle levels of chromatin-bound MCM sumoylation oscillate, loss of MCM sumoylation occurs immediately before DNA replication Increased expression level of MCM proteins is observed in cells of different cancer types. MCMs could be useful markers of cancer cell proliferation.