ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the elaborate process by which the genome is replicated, this process spanning the interface between molecular biology, biochemistry, and cell biology. To initiate a round of genome replication, the double helix must be opened up at a particular point, and the replication machinery assembled at the two nascent replication forks that are created. A recent attempts to characterize replication origins in higher eukaryotes have utilized genome-wide screens to identify the positions at which DNA synthesis initiates during genome replication. The central players in genome replication are the DNA polymerases that synthesize the daughter strands of DNA. Many of the events at the replication fork are similar in both bacteria and eukaryotes. Progress of the replication fork is maintained by helicase activity, with the torsional stress that results from overwinding of the helix ahead of the fork relieved by DNA topoisomerases. The cell cycle checkpoints play an important role in preventing a damaged genome from being replicated.
