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Molecular biology

How to duplicate a DNA package

Nature volume 483, pages 412–413 (2012)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 04 April 2012

Cells replicate half of their genome as short fragments that are put together later on. The way in which this process is linked to the formation of DNA–protein complexes called nucleosomes is now becoming clearer. See Article p.434

The authors2 analysed Okazaki fragments from baker's yeast, a unicellular fungus commonly used as a model for eukaryotic cells — those found in organisms such as animals, plants and fungi. Smith and Whitehouse took advantage of an available large catalogue of defined yeast mutants, together with well annotated genomic information that included recently defined nucleosome positions3. The researchers developed an elegant method for purifying Okazaki fragments from yeast, then sequenced the fragments and mapped them on the yeast genome. The result is the first high-resolution, genome-wide analysis of Okazaki fragments from live eukaryotic cells. The analysis is a major achievement, as our knowledge of lagging-strand synthesis has been based largely on model studies4 of the replication of non-chromosomal DNA molecules such as viral DNA.

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Figure 1: Asymmetric DNA replication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alysia Vandenberg and Geneviève Almouzni are in Unit UMR218, Institut Curie/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris F-75248, France.,

    Alysia Vandenberg & Geneviève Almouzni

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  1. Alysia Vandenberg
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  2. Geneviève Almouzni
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Correspondence to Geneviève Almouzni.

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Vandenberg, A., Almouzni, G. How to duplicate a DNA package. Nature 483, 412–413 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/483412a

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