Mus81 is a crossover junction endonuclease that interacts with Eme1 and Eme2 to form a DNA structure-specific endonuclease with substrate preference for branched DNA structures with a 5'-end at the branch nick. The typical substrates include 3'-flap structures, replication forks and nicked Holliday junctions. Mus81 may be required in mitosis for the processing of stalled or collapsed replication forks. Mus81 consists of the active nuclease domain with the GDX(n)ERKX(3)D motif which is required for metal-dependent endonuclease activity and two helix-hairpin-helix (HhH2) domains.