Replication Licensing

Cancer Terms -> Biological Process -> Subcellular Process -> Biochemical Process -> Replication-Associated Process -> Replication Licensing

Replication Licensing Definition

The exact duplication of a genome once per cell division is required of every proliferating cell. To achieve this goal, eukaryotes adopt a strategy that limits every replication origin to a single initiation event within a narrow window of the cell cycle by temporally separating the assembly of the pre-replication complex (pre-RC) from the initiation of DNA synthesis. A key component of the pre-RC is the hexameric MCM complex. An elaborate mechanism recruits the MCM complex to replication origins, and a regulatory chain reaction converts the poised, but inactive, MCM complex into an enzymatically active helicase. (from PMID 11282021 and NCI)