Summary information and primary citation

PDB-id
6mii; SNAP-derived features in text and JSON formats; DNAproDB
Class
hydrolase-DNA
Method
X-ray (3.15 Å)
Summary
Crystal structure of minichromosome maintenance protein mcm-DNA complex
Reference
Meagher M, Epling LB, Enemark EJ (2019): "DNA translocation mechanism of the MCM complex and implications for replication initiation." Nat Commun, 10, 3117. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11074-3.
Abstract
The DNA translocation activity of the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex powers DNA strand separation of the replication forks of eukaryotes and archaea. Here we illustrate an atomic level mechanism for this activity with a crystal structure of an archaeal MCM hexamer bound to single-stranded DNA and nucleotide cofactors. Sequence conservation indicates this rotary mechanism is fully possible for all eukaryotes and archaea. The structure definitively demonstrates the ring orients during translocation with the N-terminal domain leading, indicating that the translocation activity could also provide the physical basis of replication initiation where a double-hexamer idly encircling double-stranded DNA transforms to single-hexamers that encircle only one strand. In this mechanism, each strand binds to the N-terminal tier of one hexamer and the AAA+ tier of the other hexamer such that one ring pulls on the other, aligning equivalent interfaces to enable each hexamer to pull its translocation strand outside of the opposing hexamer.

Cartoon-block schematics in six views (download the tarball)

PyMOL session file Download PDB file View in 3Dmol.js