The protein encoded by this gene is one of the highly conserved mini-chromosome maintenance proteins (MCM) that are involved in the initiation of eukaryotic genome replication. The hexameric protein complex formed by MCM proteins is a key component of the pre-replication complex (pre_RC) and may be involved in the formation of replication forks and in the recruitment of other DNA replication related proteins. This protein forms a complex with MCM4, 6, and 7, and has been shown to regulate the helicase activity of the complex. This protein is phosphorylated, and thus regulated by, protein kinases CDC2 and CDC7. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants have been found, but the full-length nature of some variants has not been defined. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2012]