High impact information on Orc4

• We show that Spotted-dick/Pita functions as a transcription factor and that, in cultured S2 cells, it is an activator of expression of some 30 genes that include the Orc4 gene, required for initiation of DNA replication [1].
• Spotted-dick, a zinc-finger protein of Drosophila required for expression of Orc4 and S phase [1].
• We report here that the smallest Drosophila ORC subunit, Orc6, is a DNA binding protein that is necessary for the DNA binding and DNA replication functions of ORC [2].
• We propose that the abnormal subcellular distribution and segregation of ORC proteins in AD might compromise their physiological function in gene silencing and plasticity [3].
• ORC subunits might, thus, provide a direct molecular link between synaptic plasticity, DNA replication and cell death [3].

Biological context of Orc4

• The ORC is a critical "guard" of DNA replication and point of convergence of numerous functionally redundant signaling pathways involved in cell cycle progression and transcriptional silencing of apoptotic programmes [3].
• ORC subunits in the mammalian brain and their homologes in Drosophila, however, have further been implicated in the regulation of structural neuronal plasticity and cognitive function [3].

References