Index >>Chemical Nature of Genetic Materials (i.e DNA and RNA)>> Eukaryotic Replication At a Molecular Level

Eukaryotic Replication At a Molecular Level
The detailed mechanism of eukaryotic DNA replication is no better understood than that of prokaryotic DNA. According to well accepted bidirectional model of eukaryotic DNA replication, DNA synthesis within a given replication unit is initiated somewhere at or near the midpoint of the unit at a site termed initation point (O-origin) and proceeds in both directions until it reaches the terminal points (T) where the converging growing (replicating) forks meet. In cells of Chinese, hamster it has been estimated that there should be about 50,000 initiation points in the entire genome (see De Robertis, et.a1., 1915), A given replication unit mayor may not undergo bidircetional synthesis in synchrony with contiguous units. In either case the newly replicated strands in adjacent units will eventually meet. These strands are then linked, perhaps by a DNA ligase to form long, continuous daugther DNA strands.