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Archaea: an archetype for replication initiation studies?
Author(s) -
Kelman Lori M.,
Kelman Zvi
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03369.x
Subject(s) - biology , pre replication complex , archaea , minichromosome maintenance , dna replication , origin recognition complex , helicase , control of chromosome duplication , genetics , eukaryotic dna replication , origin of replication , dna , genome , semiconservative replication , bacteria , gene , rna
Summary Whereas the process of DNA replication is fundamentally conserved in the three domains of life, the archaeal system is closer to that of eukarya than bacteria. In the time since the complete genome sequences of several members of the archaeal domain became available, there has been a burst of research on archaeal DNA replication. These studies have led to both expected and surprising findings. This review summarizes the search for origins of replication in archaea, and our current knowledge of initiation, the process by which replication origins are recognized, the DNA molecule is unwound and the replicative helicase is loaded onto the DNA in preparation for DNA synthesis. The similarities and differences of the initiation process in archea, bacteria and eukarya are also summarized.