Clamping down on clamps and clamp loaders

DNA transactions such as DNA replication and DNA repair require the concerted action of many enzymes, together with other proteins and non-protein cofactors. Among them three main accessory proteins, replication factor C (RF-C), proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and replication protein A (RP-A), are essential for accurate and processive DNA synthesis by DNA polymerases. RF-C is a complex consisting of five polypeptides with distinct functions. RF-C can bind to a template-primer junction and, in the presence of ATP, load the PCNA clamp onto DNA, thereby recruiting DNA polymerases to the site of DNA synthesis. RF-C not only acts as a clamp loader in DNA replication and DNA repair, but there is some evidence that it could be involved in several other processes such as transcription, S-phase checkpoint regulation, apoptosis, differentiation and telomere-length regulation.