The protein encoded by this gene is one of the highly conserved mini-chromosome maintenance proteins (MCM) that are essential for the initiation of eukaryotic genome replication. The hexameric protein complex formed by the 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 contains the central domain that is conserved among the MCM proteins. This protein has been shown to co-immunoprecipitate with MCM4, 6 and 7, which suggests that it may interact with other MCM proteins and play a role in DNA replication. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been described.