Abstract 1259 Biochemical Investigation and Evolutionary Comparison of the Mechanism of the Initiation of DNA Replication in Eukaryotic Cells

During the G1 phase of the cell division cycle licensing origins of DNA replication occurs and is followed by initiation of DNA replication from these origins in a defined and inherited temporal order during S phase. The vast majority of knowledge about the mechanism and control of licensing and subsequent replication has emerged from studies using the S. cerevisiae system, in which about 400 origins are licensed in G1 phase. In the origin licensing step, multiple DNA replication machinery components, specifically Orc1-6, Cdc6, Cdt1 and Mcm2-7, recognize origins of replication throughout the genome and form a pre-replication complex (pre-RC).