SMC protein

SMC proteins represent a large family of ATPases that participate in many aspects of higher-order chromosome organization and dynamics. SMC proteins are widely conserved across bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. In eukaryotes, they function as the core ATPase subunits of large protein complexes such as condensin, cohesin, and SMC5/6.

The term SMC derives from a mutant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae named smc1 (stability of mini-chromosomes 1), which was identified based on its defect in maintaining the stability of mini-chromosomes. After the gene product of SMC1 was characterized, and homologous proteins were found to be essential for chromosome structure and dynamics in many organisms, the acronym SMC was redefined to stand for "Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes".

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.