DNA replication

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_replication 

 

DNA replication: The double helix is un'zipped' and unwound, then each separated strand (turquoise) acts as a template for replicating a new partner strand (green). Nucleotides (bases) are matched to synthesize the new partner strands into two new double helices.

In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all living organisms acting as the most essential part for biological inheritance. The cell possesses the distinctive property of division, which makes replication of DNA essential.

DNA is made up of a double helix of two complementary strands. During replication, these strands are separated. Each strand of the original DNA molecule then serves as a template for the production of its counterpart, a process referred to as semiconservative replication. As a result of semi-conservative replication, the new helix will be composed of an original DNA strand as well as a newly synthesized strand. Cellular proofreading and error-checking mechanisms ensure near perfect fidelity for DNA replication.

In a cell, DNA replication begins at specific locations, or origins of replication, in the genome.

 Unwinding of DNA at the origin and synthesis of new strands, accommodated by an enzyme known as helicase, results in replication forks growing bi-directionally from the origin. A number of proteins are associated with the replication fork to help in the initiation and continuation of DNA synthesis. Most prominently, DNA polymerase synthesizes the new strands by adding nucleotides that complement each (template) strand. DNA replication occurs during the S-stage of interphase.

DNA replication (DNA amplification) can also be performed in vitro (artificially, outside a cell). DNA polymerases isolated from cells and artificial DNA primers can be used to start DNA synthesis at known sequences in a template DNA molecule. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligase chain reaction (LCR), and transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) are examples.

DNA structure

DNA exists as a double-stranded structure, with both strands coiled together to form the characteristic double-helix. Each single strand of DNA is a chain of four types of nucleotides. Nucleotides in DNA contain a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate, and a nucleobase. The four types of nucleotide correspond to the four nucleobases adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, commonly abbreviated as A, C, G and T. Adenine and guanine are purine bases, while cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines. These nucleotides form phosphodiester bonds, creating the phosphate-deoxyribose backbone of the DNA double helix with the nucleobases pointing inward (i.e., toward the opposing strand). Nucleobases are matched between strands through hydrogen bonds to form base pairs. Adenine pairs with thymine (two hydrogen bonds), and guanine pairs with cytosine (three hydrogen bonds).

DNA strands have a directionality, and the different ends of a single strand are called the "3′ (three-prime) end" and the "5′ (five-prime) end". By convention, if the base sequence of a single strand of DNA is given, the left end of the sequence is the 5′ end, while the right end of the sequence is the 3′ end. The strands of the double helix are anti-parallel with one being 5′ to 3′, and the opposite strand 3′ to 5′. These terms refer to the carbon atom in deoxyribose to which the next phosphate in the chain attaches. Directionality has consequences in DNA synthesis, because DNA polymerase can synthesize DNA in only one direction by adding nucleotides to the 3′ end of a DNA strand.

The pairing of complementary bases in DNA (through hydrogen bonding) means that the information contained within each strand is redundant. Phosphodiester (intra-strand) bonds are stronger than hydrogen (inter-strand) bonds. This allows the strands to be separated from one another. The nucleotides on a single strand can therefore be used to reconstruct nucleotides on a newly synthesized partner strand.

DNA polymerase

DNA polymerases adds nucleotides to the 3′ end of a strand of DNA. If a mismatch is accidentally incorporated, the polymerase is inhibited from further extension. Proofreading removes the mismatched nucleotide and extension continues.

DNA polymerases are a family of enzymes that carry out all forms of DNA replication. DNA polymerases in general cannot initiate synthesis of new strands, but can only extend an existing DNA or RNA strand paired with a template strand. To begin synthesis, a short fragment of RNA, called a primer, must be created and paired with the template DNA strand.

DNA polymerase adds a new strand of DNA by extending the 3′ end of an existing nucleotide chain, adding new nucleotides matched to the template strand one at a time via the creation of phosphodiester bonds. The energy for this process of DNA polymerization comes from hydrolysis of the high-energy phosphate (phosphoanhydride) bonds between the three phosphates attached to each unincorporated base. Free bases with their attached phosphate groups are called nucleotides; in particular, bases with three attached phosphate groups are called nucleoside triphosphates. When a nucleotide is being added to a growing DNA strand, the formation of a phosphodiester bond between the proximal phosphate of the nucleotide to the growing chain is accompanied by hydrolysis of a high-energy phosphate bond with release of the two distal phosphates as a pyrophosphate. Enzymatic hydrolysis of the resulting pyrophosphate into inorganic phosphate consumes a second high-energy phosphate bond and renders the reaction effectively irreversible.

In general, DNA polymerases are highly accurate, with an intrinsic error rate of less than one mistake for every 10⁷ nucleotides added. In addition, some DNA polymerases also have proofreading ability; they can remove nucleotides from the end of a growing strand in order to correct mismatched bases. Finally, post-replication mismatch repair mechanisms monitor the DNA for errors, being capable of distinguishing mismatches in the newly synthesized DNA strand from the original strand sequence. Together, these three discrimination steps enable replication fidelity of less than one mistake for every 10⁹ nucleotides added.

The rate of DNA replication in a living cell was first measured as the rate of phage T4 DNA elongation in phage-infected E. coli. During the period of exponential DNA increase at 37 °C, the rate was 749 nucleotides per second. The mutation rate per base pair per replication during phage T4 DNA synthesis is 1.7 per 10⁸.

Replication process

Overview of the steps in DNA replication

 

Steps in DNA synthesis

DNA replication, like all biological polymerization processes, proceeds in three enzymatically catalyzed and coordinated steps: initiation, elongation and termination.

Initiation

Role of initiators for initiation of DNA replication.

 

Formation of pre-replication complex.

For a cell to divide, it must first replicate its DNA. DNA replication is an all-or-none process; once replication begins, it proceeds to completion. Once replication is complete, it does not occur again in the same cell cycle. This is made possible by the division of initiation of the pre-replication complex.

Pre-replication complex

In late mitosis and early G1 phase, a large complex of initiator proteins assembles into the pre-replication complex at particular points in the DNA, known as "origins". In E. coli the primary initiator protein is DnaA; in yeast, this is the origin recognition complex. Sequences used by initiator proteins tend to be "AT-rich" (rich in adenine and thymine bases), because A-T base pairs have two hydrogen bonds (rather than the three formed in a C-G pair) and thus are easier to strand-separate. In eukaryotes, the origin recognition complex catalyzes the assembly of initiator proteins into the pre-replication complex. Cdc6 and Cdt1 then associate with the bound origin recognition complex at the origin in order to form a larger complex necessary to load the Mcm complex onto the DNA. The Mcm complex is the helicase that will unravel the DNA helix at the replication origins and replication forks in eukaryotes. The Mcm complex is recruited at late G1 phase and loaded by the ORC-Cdc6-Cdt1 complex onto the DNA via ATP-dependent protein remodeling. The loading of the Mcm complex onto the origin DNA marks the completion of pre-replication complex formation.

If environmental conditions are right in late G1 phase, the G1 and G1/S cyclin-Cdk complexes are activated, which stimulate expression of genes that encode components of the DNA synthetic machinery. G1/S-Cdk activation also promotes the expression and activation of S-Cdk complexes, which may play a role in activating replication origins depending on species and cell type. Control of these Cdks vary depending cell type and stage of development.  This regulation is best understood in budding yeast, where the S cyclins Clb5 and Clb6 are primarily responsible for DNA replication. Clb5,6-Cdk1 complexes directly trigger the activation of replication origins and are therefore required throughout S phase to directly activate each origin.

In a similar manner, Cdc7 is also required through S phase to activate replication origins. Cdc7 is not active throughout the cell cycle, and its activation is strictly timed to avoid premature initiation of DNA replication. In late G1, Cdc7 activity rises abruptly as a result of association with the regulatory subunit Dbf4, which binds Cdc7 directly and promotes its protein kinase activity. Cdc7 has been found to be a rate-limiting regulator of origin activity. Together, the G1/S-Cdks and/or S-Cdks and Cdc7 collaborate to directly activate the replication origins, leading to initiation of DNA synthesis.

Preinitiation complex

In early S phase, S-Cdk and Cdc7 activation lead to the assembly of the preinitiation complex, a massive protein complex formed at the origin. Formation of the preinitiation complex displaces Cdc6 and Cdt1 from the origin replication complex, inactivating and disassembling the pre-replication complex. Loading the preinitiation complex onto the origin activates the Mcm helicase, causing unwinding of the DNA helix.  The preinitiation complex also loads α-primase and other DNA polymerases onto the DNA.

After α-primase synthesizes the first primers, the primer-template junctions interact with the clamp loader, which loads the sliding clamp onto the DNA to begin DNA synthesis. The components of the preinitiation complex remain associated with replication forks as they move out from the origin.

Elongation

DNA polymerase has 5′–3′ activity. All known DNA replication systems require a free 3′ hydroxyl group before synthesis can be initiated (note: the DNA template is read in 3′ to 5′ direction whereas a new strand is synthesized in the 5′ to 3′ direction—this is often confused). Four distinct mechanisms for DNA synthesis are recognized:

1. All cellular life forms and many DNA viruses, phages and plasmids use a primase to synthesize a short RNA primer with a free 3′ OH group which is subsequently elongated by a DNA polymerase.
2. The retroelements (including retroviruses) employ a transfer RNA that primes DNA replication by providing a free 3′ OH that is used for elongation by the reverse transcriptase.
3. In the adenoviruses and the φ29 family of bacteriophages, the 3′ OH group is provided by the side chain of an amino acid of the genome attached protein (the terminal protein) to which nucleotides are added by the DNA polymerase to form a new strand.
4. In the single stranded DNA viruses—a group that includes the circoviruses, the geminiviruses, the parvoviruses and others—and also the many phages and plasmids that use the rolling circle replication (RCR) mechanism, the RCR endonuclease creates a nick in the genome strand (single stranded viruses) or one of the DNA strands (plasmids). The 5′ end of the nicked strand is transferred to a tyrosine residue on the nuclease and the free 3′ OH group is then used by the DNA polymerase to synthesize the new strand.

The first is the best known of these mechanisms and is used by the cellular organisms. In this mechanism, once the two strands are separated, primase adds RNA primers to the template strands. The leading strand receives one RNA primer while the lagging strand receives several. The leading strand is continuously extended from the primer by a DNA polymerase with high processivity, while the lagging strand is extended discontinuously from each primer forming Okazaki fragments. RNase removes the primer RNA fragments, and a low processivity DNA polymerase distinct from the replicative polymerase enters to fill the gaps. When this is complete, a single nick on the leading strand and several nicks on the lagging strand can be found. Ligase works to fill these nicks in, thus completing the newly replicated DNA molecule.

The primase used in this process differs significantly between bacteria and archaea/eukaryotes. Bacteria use a primase belonging to the DnaG protein superfamily which contains a catalytic domain of the TOPRIM fold type. The TOPRIM fold contains an α/β core with four conserved strands in a Rossmann-like topology. This structure is also found in the catalytic domains of topoisomerase Ia, topoisomerase II, the OLD-family nucleases and DNA repair proteins related to the RecR protein.

The primase used by archaea and eukaryotes, in contrast, contains a highly derived version of the RNA recognition motif (RRM). This primase is structurally similar to many viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, reverse transcriptases, cyclic nucleotide generating cyclases and DNA polymerases of the A/B/Y families that are involved in DNA replication and repair. In eukaryotic replication, the primase forms a complex with Pol α.

Multiple DNA polymerases take on different roles in the DNA replication process. In E. coli, DNA Pol III is the polymerase enzyme primarily responsible for DNA replication. It assembles into a replication complex at the replication fork that exhibits extremely high processivity, remaining intact for the entire replication cycle. In contrast, DNA Pol I is the enzyme responsible for replacing RNA primers with DNA. DNA Pol I has a 5′ to 3′ exonuclease activity in addition to its polymerase activity, and uses its exonuclease activity to degrade the RNA primers ahead of it as it extends the DNA strand behind it, in a process called nick translation. Pol I is much less processive than Pol III because its primary function in DNA replication is to create many short DNA regions rather than a few very long regions.

In eukaryotes, the low-processivity enzyme, Pol α, helps to initiate replication because it forms a complex with primase. In eukaryotes, leading strand synthesis is thought to be conducted by Pol ε; however, this view has recently been challenged, suggesting a role for Pol δ. Primer removal is completed Pol δ while repair of DNA during replication is completed by Pol ε.

As DNA synthesis continues, the original DNA strands continue to unwind on each side of the bubble, forming a replication fork with two prongs. In bacteria, which have a single origin of replication on their circular chromosome, this process creates a "theta structure" (resembling the Greek letter theta: θ). In contrast, eukaryotes have longer linear chromosomes and initiate replication at multiple origins within these.

Replication fork

Scheme of the replication fork.
a: template, b: leading strand, c: lagging strand, d: replication fork, e: primer, f: Okazaki fragments

 

Many enzymes are involved in the DNA replication fork.

The replication fork is a structure that forms within the long helical DNA during DNA replication. It is created by helicases, which break the hydrogen bonds holding the two DNA strands together in the helix. The resulting structure has two branching "prongs", each one made up of a single strand of DNA. These two strands serve as the template for the leading and lagging strands, which will be created as DNA polymerase matches complementary nucleotides to the templates; the templates may be properly referred to as the leading strand template and the lagging strand template.

DNA is read by DNA polymerase in the 3′ to 5′ direction, meaning the nascent strand is synthesized in the 5' to 3' direction. Since the leading and lagging strand templates are oriented in opposite directions at the replication fork, a major issue is how to achieve synthesis of nascent (new) lagging strand DNA, whose direction of synthesis is opposite to the direction of the growing replication fork.

Leading strand

The leading strand is the strand of nascent DNA which is synthesized in the same direction as the growing replication fork. This sort of DNA replication is continuous.

Lagging strand

The lagging strand is the strand of nascent DNA whose direction of synthesis is opposite to the direction of the growing replication fork. Because of its orientation, replication of the lagging strand is more complicated as compared to that of the leading strand. As a consequence, the DNA polymerase on this strand is seen to "lag behind" the other strand.

The lagging strand is synthesized in short, separated segments. On the lagging strand template, a primase "reads" the template DNA and initiates synthesis of a short complementary RNA primer. A DNA polymerase extends the primed segments, forming Okazaki fragments. The RNA primers are then removed and replaced with DNA, and the fragments of DNA are joined together by DNA ligase.

Dynamics at the replication fork

The assembled human DNA clamp, a trimer of the protein PCNA.

In all cases the helicase is composed of six polypeptides that wrap around only one strand of the DNA being replicated. The two polymerases are bound to the helicase heximer. In eukaryotes the helicase wraps around the leading strand, and in prokaryotes it wraps around the lagging strand.

As helicase unwinds DNA at the replication fork, the DNA ahead is forced to rotate. This process results in a build-up of twists in the DNA ahead. This build-up forms a torsional resistance that would eventually halt the progress of the replication fork. Topoisomerases are enzymes that temporarily break the strands of DNA, relieving the tension caused by unwinding the two strands of the DNA helix; topoisomerases (including DNA gyrase) achieve this by adding negative supercoils to the DNA helix.

Bare single-stranded DNA tends to fold back on itself forming secondary structures; these structures can interfere with the movement of DNA polymerase. To prevent this, single-strand binding proteins bind to the DNA until a second strand is synthesized, preventing secondary structure formation.

Double-stranded DNA is coiled around histones that play an important role in regulating gene expression so the replicated DNA must be coiled around histones at the same places as the original DNA. To ensure this, histone chaperones disassemble the chromatin before it is replicated and replace the histones in the correct place. Some steps in this reassembly are somewhat speculative.

Clamp proteins form a sliding clamp around DNA, helping the DNA polymerase maintain contact with its template, thereby assisting with processivity. The inner face of the clamp enables DNA to be threaded through it. Once the polymerase reaches the end of the template or detects double-stranded DNA, the sliding clamp undergoes a conformational change that releases the DNA polymerase. Clamp-loading proteins are used to initially load the clamp, recognizing the junction between template and RNA primers.

DNA replication proteins

At the replication fork, many replication enzymes assemble on the DNA into a complex molecular machine called the replisome. The following is a list of major DNA replication enzymes that participate in the replisome:

Enzyme	Function in DNA replication
DNA helicase	Also known as helix destabilizing enzyme. Helicase separates the two strands of DNA at the Replication Fork behind the topoisomerase.
DNA polymerase	The enzyme responsible for catalyzing the addition of nucleotide substrates to DNA in the 5′ to 3′ direction during DNA replication. Also performs proof-reading and error correction. There exist many different types of DNA Polymerase, each of which perform different functions in different types of cells.
DNA clamp	A protein which prevents elongating DNA polymerases from dissociating from the DNA parent strand.
Single-strand DNA-binding protein	Bind to ssDNA and prevent the DNA double helix from re-annealing after DNA helicase unwinds it, thus maintaining the strand separation, and facilitating the synthesis of the nascent strand.
Topoisomerase	Relaxes the DNA from its super-coiled nature.
DNA gyrase	Relieves strain of unwinding by DNA helicase; this is a specific type of topoisomerase
DNA ligase	Re-anneals the semi-conservative strands and joins Okazaki Fragments of the lagging strand.
Primase	Provides a starting point of RNA (or DNA) for DNA polymerase to begin synthesis of the new DNA strand.
Telomerase	Lengthens telomeric DNA by adding repetitive nucleotide sequences to the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. This allows germ cells and stem cells to avoid the Hayflick limit on cell division.[29]

Replication machinery

E. coli Replisome. Notably, the DNA on lagging strand forms a loop. The exact structure of replisome is not well understood.

Replication machineries consist of factors involved in DNA replication and appearing on template ssDNAs. Replication machineries include primosotors are replication enzymes; DNA polymerase, DNA helicases, DNA clamps and DNA topoisomerases, and replication proteins; e.g. single-stranded DNA binding proteins (SSB). In the replication machineries these components coordinate. In most of the bacteria, all of the factors involved in DNA replication are located on replication forks and the complexes stay on the forks during DNA replication. These replication machineries are called replisomes or DNA replicase systems. These terms are generic terms for proteins located on replication forks. In eukaryotic and some bacterial cells the replisomes are not formed.

Since replication machineries do not move relatively to template DNAs such as factories, they are called a replication factory. In an alternative figure, DNA factories are similar to projectors and DNAs are like as cinematic films passing constantly into the projectors. In the replication factory model, after both DNA helicases for leading strands and lagging strands are loaded on the template DNAs, the helicases run along the DNAs into each other. The helicases remain associated for the remainder of replication process. Peter Meister et al. observed directly replication sites in budding yeast by monitoring green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged DNA polymerases α. They detected DNA replication of pairs of the tagged loci spaced apart symmetrically from a replication origin and found that the distance between the pairs decreased markedly by time. This finding suggests that the mechanism of DNA replication goes with DNA factories. That is, couples of replication factories are loaded on replication origins and the factories associated with each other. Also, template DNAs move into the factories, which bring extrusion of the template ssDNAs and nascent DNAs. Meister's finding is the first direct evidence of replication factory model. Subsequent research has shown that DNA helicases form dimers in many eukaryotic cells and bacterial replication machineries stay in single intranuclear location during DNA synthesis.

The replication factories perform disentanglement of sister chromatids. The disentanglement is essential for distributing the chromatids into daughter cells after DNA replication. Because sister chromatids after DNA replication hold each other by Cohesin rings, there is the only chance for the disentanglement in DNA replication. Fixing of replication machineries as replication factories can improve the success rate of DNA replication. If replication forks move freely in chromosomes, catenation of nuclei is aggravated and impedes mitotic segregation.

Termination

Eukaryotes initiate DNA replication at multiple points in the chromosome, so replication forks meet and terminate at many points in the chromosome. Because eukaryotes have linear chromosomes, DNA replication is unable to reach the very end of the chromosomes. Due to this problem, DNA is lost in each replication cycle from the end of the chromosome. Telomeres are regions of repetitive DNA close to the ends and help prevent loss of genes due to this shortening. Shortening of the telomeres is a normal process in somatic cells. This shortens the telomeres of the daughter DNA chromosome. As a result, cells can only divide a certain number of times before the DNA loss prevents further division. (This is known as the Hayflick limit.) Within the germ cell line, which passes DNA to the next generation, telomerase extends the repetitive sequences of the telomere region to prevent degradation. Telomerase can become mistakenly active in somatic cells, sometimes leading to cancer formation. Increased telomerase activity is one of the hallmarks of cancer.

Termination requires that the progress of the DNA replication fork must stop or be blocked. Termination at a specific locus, when it occurs, involves the interaction between two components: (1) a termination site sequence in the DNA, and (2) a protein which binds to this sequence to physically stop DNA replication. In various bacterial species, this is named the DNA replication terminus site-binding protein, or Ter protein.

Because bacteria have circular chromosomes, termination of replication occurs when the two replication forks meet each other on the opposite end of the parental chromosome. E. coli regulates this process through the use of termination sequences that, when bound by the Tus protein, enable only one direction of replication fork to pass through. As a result, the replication forks are constrained to always meet within the termination region of the chromosome.

Regulation

The cell cycle of eukaryotic cells.

Eukaryotes

Within eukaryotes, DNA replication is controlled within the context of the cell cycle. As the cell grows and divides, it progresses through stages in the cell cycle; DNA replication takes place during the S phase (synthesis phase). The progress of the eukaryotic cell through the cycle is controlled by cell cycle checkpoints. Progression through checkpoints is controlled through complex interactions between various proteins, including cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases. Unlike bacteria, eukaryotic DNA replicates in the confines of the nucleus.

The G1/S checkpoint (or restriction checkpoint) regulates whether eukaryotic cells enter the process of DNA replication and subsequent division. Cells that do not proceed through this checkpoint remain in the G0 stage and do not replicate their DNA.

After passing through the G1/S checkpoint, DNA must be replicated only once in each cell cycle. When the Mcm complex moves away from the origin, the pre-replication complex is dismantled. Because a new Mcm complex cannot be loaded at an origin until the pre-replication subunits are reactivated, one origin of replication can not be used twice in the same cell cycle.

Activation of S-Cdks in early S phase promotes the destruction or inhibition of individual pre-replication complex components, preventing immediate reassembly. S and M-Cdks continue to block pre-replication complex assembly even after S phase is complete, ensuring that assembly cannot occur again until all Cdk activity is reduced in late mitosis.

In budding yeast, inhibition of assembly is caused by Cdk-dependent phosphorylation of pre-replication complex components. At the onset of S phase, phosphorylation of Cdc6 by Cdk1 causes the binding of Cdc6 to the SCF ubiquitin protein ligase, which causes proteolytic destruction of Cdc6. Cdk-dependent phosphorylation of Mcm proteins promotes their export out of the nucleus along with Cdt1 during S phase, preventing the loading of new Mcm complexes at origins during a single cell cycle. Cdk phosphorylation of the origin replication complex also inhibits pre-replication complex assembly. The individual presence of any of these three mechanisms is sufficient to inhibit pre-replication complex assembly. However, mutations of all three proteins in the same cell does trigger reinitiation at many origins of replication within one cell cycle.

In animal cells, the protein geminin is a key inhibitor of pre-replication complex assembly. Geminin binds Cdt1, preventing its binding to the origin recognition complex. In G1, levels of geminin are kept low by the APC, which ubiquitinates geminin to target it for degradation. When geminin is destroyed, Cdt1 is released, allowing it to function in pre-replication complex assembly. At the end of G1, the APC is inactivated, allowing geminin to accumulate and bind Cdt1.

Replication of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes occurs independently of the cell cycle, through the process of D-loop replication.

Replication focus

In vertebrate cells, replication sites concentrate into positions called replication foci. Replication sites can be detected by immunostaining daughter strands and replication enzymes and monitoring GFP-tagged replication factors. By these methods it is found that replication foci of varying size and positions appear in S phase of cell division and their number per nucleus is far smaller than the number of genomic replication forks.

P. Heun et al.,(2001) tracked GFP-tagged replication foci in budding yeast cells and revealed that replication origins move constantly in G1 and S phase and the dynamics decreased significantly in S phase. Traditionally, replication sites were fixed on spatial structure of chromosomes by nuclear matrix or lamins. The Heun's results denied the traditional concepts, budding yeasts do not have lamins, and support that replication origins self-assemble and form replication foci.

By firing of replication origins, controlled spatially and temporally, the formation of replication foci is regulated. D. A. Jackson et al.(1998) revealed that neighboring origins fire simultaneously in mammalian cells. Spatial juxtaposition of replication sites brings clustering of replication forks. The clustering do rescue of stalled replication forks and favors normal progress of replication forks. Progress of replication forks is inhibited by many factors; collision with proteins or with complexes binding strongly on DNA, deficiency of dNTPs, nicks on template DNAs and so on. If replication forks stall and the remaining sequences from the stalled forks are not replicated, the daughter strands have nick obtained un-replicated sites. The un-replicated sites on one parent's strand hold the other strand together but not daughter strands. Therefore, the resulting sister chromatids cannot separate from each other and cannot divide into 2 daughter cells. When neighboring origins fire and a fork from one origin is stalled, fork from other origin access on an opposite direction of the stalled fork and duplicate the un-replicated sites. As other mechanism of the rescue there is application of dormant replication origins that excess origins do not fire in normal DNA replication.

Bacteria

Dam methylates adenine of GATC sites after replication.

Most bacteria do not go through a well-defined cell cycle but instead continuously copy their DNA; during rapid growth, this can result in the concurrent occurrence of multiple rounds of replication. In E. coli, the best-characterized bacteria, DNA replication is regulated through several mechanisms, including: the hemimethylation and sequestering of the origin sequence, the ratio of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and the levels of protein DnaA. All these control the binding of initiator proteins to the origin sequences.

Because E. coli methylates GATC DNA sequences, DNA synthesis results in hemimethylated sequences. This hemimethylated DNA is recognized by the protein SeqA, which binds and sequesters the origin sequence; in addition, DnaA (required for initiation of replication) binds less well to hemimethylated DNA. As a result, newly replicated origins are prevented from immediately initiating another round of DNA replication.

ATP builds up when the cell is in a rich medium, triggering DNA replication once the cell has reached a specific size. ATP competes with ADP to bind to DnaA, and the DnaA-ATP complex is able to initiate replication. A certain number of DnaA proteins are also required for DNA replication — each time the origin is copied, the number of binding sites for DnaA doubles, requiring the synthesis of more DnaA to enable another initiation of replication.

In fast-growing bacteria, such as E. coli, chromosome replication takes more time than dividing the cell. The bacteria solve this by initiating a new round of replication before the previous one has been terminated. The new round of replication will form the chromosome of the cell that is born two generations after the dividing cell. This mechanism creates overlapping replication cycles.

Problems with DNA replication

Replication fork restarts by homologous recombination following replication stress

 

Epigenetic consequences of nucleosome reassembly defects at stalled replication forks

There are many events that contribute to replication stress, including:

• Misincorporation of ribonucleotides
• Unusual DNA structures
• Conflicts between replication and transcription
• Insufficiency of essential replication factors
• Common fragile sites
• Overexpression or constitutive activation of oncogenes
• Chromatin inaccessibility

Polymerase chain reaction

Main article: Polymerase chain reaction

Researchers commonly replicate DNA in vitro using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR uses a pair of primers to span a target region in template DNA, and then polymerizes partner strands in each direction from these primers using a thermostable DNA polymerase. Repeating this process through multiple cycles amplifies the targeted DNA region. At the start of each cycle, the mixture of template and primers is heated, separating the newly synthesized molecule and template. Then, as the mixture cools, both of these become templates for annealing of new primers, and the polymerase extends from these. As a result, the number of copies of the target region doubles each round, increasing exponentially.

 

Autocatalysis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocatalysis 

 

A single chemical reaction is said to be autocatalytic if one of the reaction products is also a catalyst for the same or a coupled reaction. Such a reaction is called an autocatalytic reaction.

A set of chemical reactions can be said to be "collectively autocatalytic" if a number of those reactions produce, as reaction products, catalysts for enough of the other reactions that the entire set of chemical reactions is self-sustaining given an input of energy and food molecules.

Chemical reactions

A chemical reaction of two reactants and two products can be written as

${\displaystyle \alpha A+\beta B\rightleftharpoons \sigma S+\tau T}$

where the Greek letters are stoichiometric coefficients and the capital Latin letters represent chemical species. The chemical reaction proceeds in both the forward and reverse direction. This equation is easily generalized to any number of reactants, products, and reactions.

Chemical equilibrium

In chemical equilibrium the forward and reverse reaction rates are such that each chemical species is being created at the same rate it is being destroyed. In other words, the rate of the forward reaction is equal to the rate of the reverse reaction.

${\displaystyle k_{+}[A]^{\alpha }[B]^{\beta }=k_{-}[S]^{\sigma }[T]^{\tau }\,}$

Here, the brackets indicate the concentration of the chemical species, in moles per liter, and k₊ and k₋ are rate constants.

Far from equilibrium

Far from equilibrium, the forward and reverse reaction rates no longer balance and the concentration of reactants and products is no longer constant. For every forward reaction ${\displaystyle \alpha }$ molecules of A are destroyed. For every reverse reaction ${\displaystyle \alpha }$ molecules of A are created. In the case of an elementary reaction step the reaction order in each direction equals the molecularity, so that the rate of change in the number of moles of A is then

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[A]=-\alpha k_{+}[A]^{\alpha }[B]^{\beta }+\alpha k_{-}[S]^{\sigma }[T]^{\tau }\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[B]=-\beta k_{+}[A]^{\alpha }[B]^{\beta }+\beta k_{-}[S]^{\sigma }[T]^{\tau }\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[S]=\sigma k_{+}[A]^{\alpha }[B]^{\beta }-\sigma k_{-}[S]^{\sigma }[T]^{\tau }\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[T]=\tau k_{+}[A]^{\alpha }[B]^{\beta }-\tau k_{-}[S]^{\sigma }[T]^{\tau }\,}$

This system of equations has a single stable fixed point when the forward rates and the reverse rates are equal (when ${\displaystyle {d \over dt}=0}$ for every species). This means that the system evolves to the equilibrium state, and this is the only state to which it evolves.

Autocatalytic reactions

Sigmoid variation of product concentration in autocatalytic reactions

Autocatalytic reactions are those in which at least one of the products is a reactant. Perhaps the simplest autocatalytic reaction can be written

${\displaystyle A+B\rightleftharpoons 2B}$

with the rate equations (for an elementary reaction)

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[A]=-k_{+}[A][B]+k_{-}[B]^{2}\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[B]=+k_{+}[A][B]-k_{-}[B]^{2}\,}$.

This reaction is one in which a molecule of species A interacts with a molecule of species B. The A molecule is converted into a B molecule. The final product consists of the original B molecule plus the B molecule created in the reaction.

The key feature of these rate equations is that they are nonlinear; the second term on the right varies as the square of the concentration of B. This feature can lead to multiple fixed points of the system, much like a quadratic equation can have multiple roots. Multiple fixed points allow for multiple states of the system. A system existing in multiple macroscopic states is more orderly (has lower entropy) than a system in a single state.

The concentrations of A and B vary in time according to

${\displaystyle [A]={\frac {[A]_{0}+[B]_{0}}{1+{\frac {[B]_{0}}{[A]_{0}}}e^{([A]_{0}+[B]_{0})kt}}}}$

and

${\displaystyle [B]={\frac {[A]_{0}+[B]_{0}}{1+{\frac {[A]_{0}}{[B]_{0}}}e^{-([A]_{0}+[B]_{0})kt}}}}$.

The graph for these equations is a sigmoid curve (specifically a logistic function), which is typical for autocatalytic reactions: these chemical reactions proceed slowly at the start (the induction period) because there is little catalyst present, the rate of reaction increases progressively as the reaction proceeds as the amount of catalyst increases and then it again slows down as the reactant concentration decreases. If the concentration of a reactant or product in an experiment follows a sigmoid curve, the reaction may be autocatalytic.

These kinetic equations apply for example to the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of some esters to carboxylic acids and alcohols. There must be at least some acid present initially to start the catalyzed mechanism; if not the reaction must start by an alternate uncatalyzed path which is usually slower. The above equations for the catalyzed mechanism would imply that the concentration of acid product remains zero forever.

Creation of order

Background

The second law of thermodynamics states that the disorder (entropy) of a physical or chemical system and its surroundings (a closed system) must increase with time. Systems left to themselves become increasingly random, and orderly energy of a system like uniform motion degrades eventually to the random motion of particles in a heat bath.

There are, however, many instances in which physical systems spontaneously become emergent or orderly. For example, despite the destruction they cause, hurricanes have a very orderly vortex motion when compared to the random motion of the air molecules in a closed room. Even more spectacular is the order created by chemical systems; the most dramatic being the order associated with life.

This is consistent with the Second Law, which requires that the total disorder of a system and its surroundings must increase with time. Order can be created in a system by an even greater decrease in order of the system's surroundings. In the hurricane example, hurricanes are formed from unequal heating within the atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere is then far from thermal equilibrium. The order of the Earth's atmosphere increases, but at the expense of the order of the sun. The sun is becoming more disorderly as it ages and throws off light and material to the rest of the universe. The total disorder of the sun and the earth increases despite the fact that orderly hurricanes are generated on earth.

A similar example exists for living chemical systems. The sun provides energy to green plants. The green plants are food for other living chemical systems. The energy absorbed by plants and converted into chemical energy generates a system on earth that is orderly and far from chemical equilibrium. Here, the difference from chemical equilibrium is determined by an excess of reactants over the equilibrium amount. Once again, order on earth is generated at the expense of entropy increase of the sun. The total entropy of the earth and the rest of the universe increases, consistent with the Second Law.

Some autocatalytic reactions also generate order in a system at the expense of its surroundings. For example, (clock reactions) have intermediates whose concentrations oscillate in time, corresponding to temporal order. Other reactions generate spatial separation of chemical species corresponding to spatial order. More complex reactions are involved in metabolic pathways and metabolic networks in biological systems.

The transition to order as the distance from equilibrium increases is not usually continuous. Order typically appears abruptly. The threshold between the disorder of chemical equilibrium and order is known as a phase transition. The conditions for a phase transition can be determined with the mathematical machinery of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

Temporal order

A chemical reaction cannot oscillate about a position of final equilibrium because the second law of thermodynamics requires that a thermodynamic system approach equilibrium and not recede from it. For a closed system at constant temperature and pressure, the Gibbs free energy must decrease continuously and not oscillate. However it is possible that the concentrations of some reaction intermediates oscillate, and also that the rate of formation of products oscillates.

Idealized example: Lotka–Volterra equation

The Lotka–Volterra equation is isomorphic with the predator–prey model and the two-reaction autocatalytic model. In this example baboons and cheetahs are equivalent to two different chemical species X and Y in autocatalytic reactions.

Consider a coupled set of two autocatalytic reactions in which the concentration of one of the reactants A is much larger than its equilibrium value. In this case, the forward reaction rate is so much larger than the reverse rates that we can neglect the reverse rates.

${\displaystyle A+X\rightarrow 2X}$

${\displaystyle X+Y\rightarrow 2Y}$

${\displaystyle Y\rightarrow E}$

with the rate equations

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[X]=k_{1}[A][X]-k_{2}[X][Y]\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[Y]=k_{2}[X][Y]-k_{3}[Y]\,}$.

Here, we have neglected the depletion of the reactant A, since its concentration is so large. The rate constants for the three reactions are ${\displaystyle k_{1}}$, ${\displaystyle k_{2}}$, and ${\displaystyle k_{3}}$, respectively.

This system of rate equations is known as the Lotka–Volterra equation and is most closely associated with population dynamics in predator–prey relationships. This system of equations can yield oscillating concentrations of the reaction intermediates X and Y. The amplitude of the oscillations depends on the concentration of A (which decreases without oscillation). Such oscillations are a form of emergent temporal order that is not present in equilibrium.

Another idealized example: Brusselator

Another example of a system that demonstrates temporal order is the Brusselator (see Prigogine reference). It is characterized by the reactions

${\displaystyle A\rightarrow X}$

${\displaystyle 2X+Y\rightarrow 3X}$

${\displaystyle B+X\rightarrow Y+D}$

${\displaystyle X\rightarrow E}$

with the rate equations

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[X]=[A]+[X]^{2}[Y]-[B][X]-[X]\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[Y]=[B][X]-[X]^{2}[Y]\,}$

where, for convenience, the rate constants have been set to 1.

The Brusselator in the unstable regime. A=1. B=2.5. X(0)=1. Y(0)=0. The system approaches a limit cycle. For B<1+A the system is stable and approaches a fixed point.

The Brusselator has a fixed point at

${\displaystyle [X]=A\,}$

${\displaystyle [Y]={B \over A}\,}$.

The fixed point becomes unstable when

${\displaystyle B>1+A^{2}\,}$

leading to an oscillation of the system. Unlike the Lotka-Volterra equation, the oscillations of the Brusselator do not depend on the amount of reactant present initially. Instead, after sufficient time, the oscillations approach a limit cycle.^[6]

Spatial order

An idealized example of spatial spontaneous symmetry breaking is the case in which we have two boxes of material separated by a permeable membrane so that material can diffuse between the two boxes. It is assumed that identical Brusselators are in each box with nearly identical initial conditions. (see Prigogine reference)

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[X_{1}]=[A]+[X_{1}]^{2}[Y_{1}]-[B][X_{1}]-[X_{1}]+D_{x}\left(X_{2}-X_{1}\right)\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[Y_{1}]=[B][X_{1}]-[X_{1}]^{2}[Y_{1}]+D_{y}\left(Y_{2}-Y_{1}\right)\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[X_{2}]=[A]+[X_{2}]^{2}[Y_{2}]-[B][X_{2}]-[X_{2}]+D_{x}\left(X_{1}-X_{2}\right)\,}$

${\displaystyle {d \over dt}[Y_{2}]=[B][X_{2}]-[X_{2}]^{2}[Y_{2}]+D_{y}\left(Y_{1}-Y_{2}\right)\,}$

Here, the numerical subscripts indicate which box the material is in. There are additional terms proportional to the diffusion coefficient D that account for the exchange of material between boxes.

If the system is initiated with the same conditions in each box, then a small fluctuation will lead to separation of materials between the two boxes. One box will have a predominance of X, and the other will have a predominance of Y.

Real examples

Real examples of clock reactions are the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction (BZ reaction), the Briggs–Rauscher reaction, the Bray–Liebhafsky reaction and the iodine clock reaction. These are oscillatory reactions, and the concentration of products and reactants can be approximated in terms of damped oscillations.

The best-known reaction, the BZ reaction, can be created with a mixture of potassium bromate ${\displaystyle {\ce {(KBrO3)}}}$, malonic acid ${\displaystyle {\ce {(CH2(COOH)2)}}}$, and manganese sulfate ${\displaystyle {\ce {(MnSO4)}}}$ prepared in a heated solution with sulfuric acid ${\displaystyle {\ce {(H2SO4)}}}$ as solvent.

Optics example

Another autocatalytic system is one driven by light coupled to photo-polymerization reactions. In a process termed optical autocatalysis, positive feedback is created between light intensity and photo-polymerization rate, via polymerization-induced increases in the refractive index. Light's preference to occupy regions of higher refractive index results in leakage of light into regions of higher molecular weight, thereby amplifying the photo-chemical reaction. The positive feedback may be expressed as:

${\displaystyle {\text{polymerization rate}}\to {\text{molecular weight}}/{\text{refractive index}}\to {\text{intensity}}}$

Noting that photo-polymerization rate is proportional to intensity and that refractive index is proportional to molecular weight, the positive feedback between intensity and photo-polymerization establishes the auto-catalytic behavior. Optical auto-catalysis has been shown to result on spontaneous pattern formation in photopolymers. Hosein and co-workers discovered that optical autocatalysis can also occur in photoreactive polymer blends, and that the process can induce binary phase morphologies with the same pattern as the light profile. The light undergoes optical modulation instability, spontaneous dividing into a multitude of optical filaments, and the polymer system thereby forms filaments within the blend structure. The result is a new system that couples optical autocatalytic behavior to spinodal decomposition.

Biological example

It is known that an important metabolic cycle, glycolysis, displays temporal order. Glycolysis consists of the degradation of one molecule of glucose and the overall production of two molecules of ATP. The process is therefore of great importance to the energetics of living cells. The global glycolysis reaction involves glucose, ADP, NAD, pyruvate, ATP, and NADH.

${\displaystyle {\ce {glucose{}+2ADP{}+2P_{\mathit {i}}{}+2NAD->2(pyruvate){}+2ATP{}+2NADH}}}$.

The details of the process are quite involved, however, a section of the process is autocatalyzed by phosphofructokinase (PFK). This portion of the process is responsible for oscillations in the pathway that lead to the process oscillating between an active and an inactive form. Thus, the autocatalytic reaction can modulate the process.

Shape tailoring of thin layers

It is possible to use the results from an autocatalytic reaction coupled with reaction–diffusion system theory to tailor the design of a thin layer. The autocatalytic process allows controlling the nonlinear behavior of the oxidation front, which is used to establish the initial geometry needed to generate the arbitrary final geometry. It has been successfully done in the wet oxidation of ${\displaystyle Al_{x}Ga_{1-x}As}$ to obtain arbitrary shaped layers of ${\displaystyle AlO_{x}}$.

Phase transitions

The initial amounts of reactants determine the distance from a chemical equilibrium of the system. The greater the initial concentrations the further the system is from equilibrium. As the initial concentration increases, an abrupt change in order occurs. This abrupt change is known as phase transition. At the phase transition, fluctuations in macroscopic quantities, such as chemical concentrations, increase as the system oscillates between the more ordered state (lower entropy, such as ice) and the more disordered state (higher entropy, such as liquid water). Also, at the phase transition, macroscopic equations, such as the rate equations, fail. Rate equations can be derived from microscopic considerations. The derivations typically rely on a mean field theory approximation to microscopic dynamical equations. Mean field theory breaks down in the presence of large fluctuations. Therefore, since large fluctuations occur in the neighborhood of a phase transition, macroscopic equations, such as rate equations, fail. As the initial concentration increases further, the system settles into an ordered state in which fluctuations are again small.

Asymmetric autocatalysis

Asymmetric autocatalysis occurs when the reaction product is chiral and thus acts as a chiral catalyst for its own production. Reactions of this type, such as the Soai reaction, have the property that they can amplify a very small enantiomeric excess into a large one. This has been proposed as an important step in the origin of biological homochirality.

Role in origin of life

In 1995 Stuart Kauffman proposed that life initially arose as autocatalytic chemical networks.

British ethologist Richard Dawkins wrote about autocatalysis as a potential explanation for abiogenesis in his 2004 book The Ancestor's Tale. He cites experiments performed by Julius Rebek and his colleagues at the Scripps Research Institute in California in which they combined amino adenosine and pentafluorophenyl ester with the autocatalyst amino adenosine triacid ester (AATE). One system from the experiment contained variants of AATE which catalyzed the synthesis of themselves. This experiment demonstrated the possibility that autocatalysts could exhibit competition within a population of entities with heredity, which could be interpreted as a rudimentary form of natural selection, and that certain environmental changes (such as irradiation) could alter the chemical structure of some of these self-replicating molecules (an analog for mutation) in such ways that could either boost or interfere with its ability to react, thus boosting or interfering with its ability to replicate and spread in the population.

Autocatalysis plays a major role in the processes of life. Two researchers who have emphasized its role in the origins of life are Robert Ulanowicz  and Stuart Kauffman.

Autocatalysis occurs in the initial transcripts of rRNA. The introns are capable of excising themselves by the process of two nucleophilic transesterification reactions. The RNA able to do this is sometimes referred to as a ribozyme. Additionally, the citric acid cycle is an autocatalytic cycle run in reverse.

Ultimately, biological metabolism itself can be seen as a vast autocatalytic set, in that all of the molecular constituents of a biological cell are produced by reactions involving this same set of molecules.

Examples of autocatalytic reactions

• Photographic processing of silver halide film/paper
• DNA replication
• Haloform reaction
• Formose reaction (also known as Butlerov reaction)
• Tin pest
• Reaction of permanganate with oxalic acid
• Vinegar syndrome
• Binding of oxygen by haemoglobin
• The spontaneous degradation of aspirin into salicylic acid and acetic acid, causing very old aspirin in sealed containers to smell mildly of vinegar.
• The α-bromination of acetophenone with bromine.
• Liesegang rings
• Autocatalytic surface growth of metal nanoparticles in solution phase