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Encyclopedia of Cancer pp 1–6Cite as

Replication Licensing System

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Definition

The “Replication Licensing System” is critical for the maintenance of genome stability by ensuring that no section of chromosomal genomic DNA is replicated more than once within a single cell division cycle (Arias and Walter 2007; Blow and Dutta 2005; Blow and Gillespie 2008). In late M and G1 phase, but not at other stages of the cell cycle, replication origins are licensed for a single initiation event in the upcoming S phase by encircling DNA with double hexamers of the minichromosome maintenance proteins, MCM2–7 (Arias and Walter 2007; Blow and Dutta 2005; Blow and Gillespie 2008; Deegan and Diffley 2016; Riera et al. 2017). During S phase of the cell cycle, DNA-bound MCM2–7 are activated to form the primary replicative helicase that unwinds the DNA ahead of each replication fork (Deegan and Diffley 2016; Riera et al. 2017). When replication forks terminate, MCM2–7 are removed from the DNA, thus ensuring that no section of the genome is rereplicated in a single cell...

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References

  • Arias EE, Walter JC (2007) Strength in numbers: preventing rereplication via multiple mechanisms in eukaryotic cells. Genes Dev 21:497–518

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  • Blow JJ, Dutta A (2005) Preventing re-replication of chromosomal DNA. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 6:476–486

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  • Blow JJ, Gillespie PJ (2008) Replication licensing and cancer – a fatal entanglement? Nat Rev Cancer 8:799–806

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  • Deegan TD, Diffley JF (2016) MCM: one ring to rule them all. Curr Opin Struct Biol 37:145–151

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  • McIntosh D, Blow JJ (2012) Dormant origins, the licensing checkpoint, and the response to replicative stresses. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 4:a012955

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  • Prioleau MN, MacAlpine DM (2016) DNA replication origins-where do we begin? Genes Dev 30:1683–1697

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  • Riera A, Barbon M, Noguchi Y, Reuter LM, Schneider S, Speck C (2017) From structure to mechanism-understanding initiation of DNA replication. Genes Dev 31:1037–1088

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Gene Regulation & Expression, Wellcome Trust Biocentre, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dow Street, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK

    Peter J. Gillespie & J. Julian Blow

Authors
  1. Peter J. Gillespie
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  2. J. Julian Blow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Julian Blow .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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Gillespie, P.J., Blow, J.J. (2018). Replication Licensing System. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5037-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5037-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Replication Licensing System
    Published:
    16 March 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5037-4

  2. Original

    Replication Licensing System
    Published:
    28 December 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5037-3

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