SMC6
Structural maintenance of chromosomes protein 6 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SMC6 gene.
It is involved in the Alternative lengthening of telomeres cancer mechanism.Smc6 and Smc5 proteins form a heterodimeric ring-like structure and together with other non-SMC elements form the SMC-5/6 complex. In the worm Caenorhabditis elegans this complex interacts with the HIM-6 helicase to promote meiotic recombination intermediate processing and chromosome maturation. The SMC-5/6 complex in mouse oocytes is essential for the formation of segregation competent bivalents during meiosis. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, SMC6 is necessary for resistance to DNA damage as well as for damage-induced interchromosomal and sister chromatid recombination. In humans, a chromosome breakage syndrome characterized by severe lung disease in early childhood is associated with a mutation in a component of the SMC-5/6 complex. Patient’s cells display chromosome rearrangements, micronuclei, sensitivity to DNA damage and defective homologous recombination.
