※ CDC7 family introduction

    CDC7s (Cell division cycle 7 kinases) are classified into Others family. One member, CDC7, was first indentified in budding yeast genome and human homolog was identified later. The kinase catalytic domain is conserved among human, yeast and fission yeast by comparison of primary sequence. The studies show that human CDC7 is localized in the nucleus and posses a protein kinase activity. The expression level is constant while the kinase activity is unstable with the maximum in S phase of the cell cycle. CDC7 functions as a nuclear protein ser/thr kinase required at G1/S phase transition in the mitotic cell cycle in yeast. The CDC7 can bind to the regulatory subunit Dbf4p which is required for the initiation of DNA replication (1). In mammals, the major target of CDC7 is MCM complex which may have the similar functions with Dbf4p (2).

Reference
1. Jiang, W. and Hunter, T. (1997) Identification and characterization of a human protein kinase related to budding yeast Cdc7p. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 94, 14320-14325. PMID: 9405610
2. Montagnoli, A., Moll, J. and Colotta, F. (2010) Targeting cell division cycle 7 kinase: a new approach for cancer therapy. Clin Cancer Res, 16, 4503-4508. PMID: 20647475