Mei5 is one of a pair of meiosis-specific proteins which facilitate the loading of Dmc1 on to Rad51 on DNA at double-strand breaks during recombination. Recombination is carried out by a large protein complex based around the two RecA homologues, Rad51 and Dmc1. This complex may play both a catalytic and a structural role in the interaction between homologous chromosomes during meiosis. Mei5 is seen to contain a coiled-coli region.

1: A protein complex containing Mei5 and Sae3 promotes the assembly of the meiosis-specific RecA homolog Dmc1. Hayase A, Takagi M, Miyazaki T, Oshiumi H, Shinohara M, Shinohara A; Cell. 2004;119:927-940. PMID:15620352