Comparative genomic analysis reveals evolutionary and structural attributes of MCM gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa

•The mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) family, a large and functionally diverse protein family belonging to the AAA+ superfamily, is essential for DNA replication in all eukaryotic organisms. The MCM2-7 form a hetero-hexameric complex which serves as licensing factor necessary to ensure the proper genomic DNA replication during the S phase of cell cycle. MCM8-10 are also associated with the DNA replication process though their roles are particularly unclear.•Comparative analysis of genomic distribution across eukaryotes revealed conservation of core MCMs 2-7 while MCMs 8-10 are absent in some taxa.•Synteny analysis among Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Glycine max and Zea mays MCMs demonstrated orthologous relationships and duplication events. Further, estimation of synonymous and non-synonymous substitution rates illustrated evolution of MCM family under strong constraints.•Expression profiling using available microarray data and qRT-PCR revealed differential expression under various stress conditions, hinting at their potential use to develop stress resilient crops•Homology modeling of Arabidopsis and rice MCM2-7 and detailed comparison with yeast MCMs identified conservation of eukaryotic specific insertions and extensions as compared to archeal MCMs. The mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) family, a large and functionally diverse protein family belonging to the AAA+ superfamily, is essential for DNA replication in all eukaryotic organisms. The MCM 2-7 form a hetero-hexameric complex which serves as licensing factor necessary to ensure the proper genomic DNA replication during the S phase of cell cycle. MCM 8-10 are also associated with the DNA replication process though their roles are particularly unclear. In this study, we report an extensive in silico analysis of MCM gene family (MCM 2-10) in Arabidopsis and rice. Comparative analysis of genomic distribution across eukaryotes revealed conservation of core MCMs 2-7 while MCMs 8-10 are absent in some taxa. Domain architecture analysis underlined MCM 2-10 subfamily specific features. Phylogenetic analyses clustered MCMs into 9 clades as per their subfamily. Duplication events are prominent in plant MCM family, however no duplications are observed in Arabidopsis and rice MCMs. Synteny analysis among Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Glycine max and Zea mays MCMs demonstrated orthologous relationships and duplication events. Further, estimation of synonymous and non-synonymous substitution rates illu