Mechanisms of MCM2-7 loading and initial DNA melting at near base-pair resolution [Mcm4-Flag ChIP-Exo]

Furthermore, we mapped the sites of initial DNA unwinding genome-wide and show that these sites appear near the N-terminal domains of the MCM2-7 double-hexamer in proximity of the B1 element. Finally, employing a chemical-biology approach, we establish that during helicase activation the Mcm2/5 interface acts as the DNA exit gate for single-stranded-DNA extrusion. Our work identifies that helicase loading follows a distributive mechanism, allowing for equal MCM2-7 loading across the genome and surprisingly finds that DNA unwinding initiates from the helicase N-terminal interface in proximity to the ARS B1 element.