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Replicating both ways

Archeal DNA replication proteins are closely related to eukaryotic counterparts, but in the June 23 Science Myllykallio et al. report that the archeon Pyrococcus abyssi has a bacterial mode of replication (Science 2000, 288:2212-2215). Myllykallio et al. use the excess of G over C in the leading replication strand to identify a single origin of bi-directional replication in Pyrococcus. A comparison with a related archeon reveals that, as in bacteria, the replication terminus is a hotspot of genome shuffling. These two similarities with bacteria may be evidence for either convergent evolution or conservation of replication characteristics from the time of a common ancestor.

References

  1. Archaea and the origin(s) of DNA replication proteins.

  2. Science, [http://www.sciencemag.org/]

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Wells, W. Replicating both ways. Genome Biol 1, spotlight-20000629-02 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20000629-02

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20000629-02

Keywords

  • Common Ancestor
  • Convergent Evolution
  • Replication Protein
  • Genome Shuffling
  • Single Origin