The τ and γ subunits are part of the

DNA polymerase III holoenzyme DNA polymerase III holoenzyme is the primary enzyme complex involved in prokaryotic DNA replication. It was discovered by Thomas Kornberg (son of Arthur Kornberg) and Malcolm Gefter in 1970. The complex has high processivity (i.e. the number of ...

of prokaryotes. The protein family is characterized by the well-conserved first N-terminal domain, approx. 365 amino acids. The eukaryotic equivalent to the DNA clamp loader is

replication factor C The replication factor C, or RFC, is a five-subunit protein complex that is required for DNA replication. The subunits of this heteropentamer are named Rfc1, Rfc2, Rfc3, Rfc4, and Rfc5 in ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae''. RFC is used in eukaryotic re ...

, with the subunits

RFC1 Replication factor C subunit 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RFC1'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is the large subunit of replication factor C, which is a five subunit DNA polymerase accessory protein. Replic ...

RFC2 Replication factor C subunit 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RFC2'' gene. Function The elongation of primed DNA templates by DNA polymerase delta and epsilon requires the action of the accessory proteins, proliferating cell ...

RFC3 Replication factor C subunit 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RFC3'' gene. Function The elongation of primed DNA templates by DNA polymerase delta and DNA polymerase epsilon requires the accessory proteins proliferating cell n ...

RFC4 Replication factor C subunit 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RFC4'' gene. Function The elongation of primed DNA templates by DNA polymerase delta and DNA polymerase epsilon requires the accessory proteins proliferating cell ...

, and

RFC5 Replication factor C subunit 5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RFC5'' gene. Function The elongation of primed DNA templates by DNA polymerase delta and DNA polymerase epsilon requires the accessory proteins proliferating cell ...

. The domain is also found in plants as gene STICHEL (STI), with similarity to cyanobacterial sequences. However, STI in plants is nuclear-localized and does not participate in genome duplication. It seems to instead regulate branching.

References

Bacterial proteins Protein families DNA replication {{molecular-biology-stub