Abstract
THE replication of the Escherichia coli chromosome consists of several physiologically and genetically distinguishable stages: the initiation of chromosomal replication, the polymerization of the daughter strands by the replication fork, and termination and segregation of the daughter chromosomes1. These biochemical events, even those which take place at the replication fork as it is going along the circular E. coli chromosome, are complex. They do not correspond to the simple picture of two enzymes elongating the two daughter strands. Okazaki et al.2 have found that short DNA molecules (Okazaki pieces) are synthesized as intermediates in DNA replication. Three stages occur in the life of these DNA intermediates, chain initiation, elongation of the initiated chain, and joining of the chains. This last step presumably requires the activity of the enzyme polynucleotide ligase3,4. To try and analyse the mechanism of replication we have examined chain initiation and propagation in vitro in the absence of joining.
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OLIVERA, B., BONHOEFFER, F. Discontinuous DNA Replication in vitro: I. Two Distinct Size Classes of Intermediates. Nature New Biology 240, 233–235 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio240233a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio240233a0
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