title: Structural insights into Cdc45 function: was there a nuclease at the heart of the ancestral replisome?
abstract: The role of Cdc45 in genomic duplication has remained unclear since its initial identification as an essential replication factor. Recent structural studies of Cdc45 and the evolutionarily-related archaeal GAN and bacterial RecJ nucleases have provided fresh insight into its function as co-activator of the MCM helicase. The CMG helicase of the last archaeal/eukaryotic ancestor might have harboured a single-stranded DNA nuclease activity, conserved in some modern archaea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK. Electronic address: lp212@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004265:DNA Helicases; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: C113571:CDC45 protein, human; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases; D004265:DNA Helicases