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Relationship between Cell Size and Time of Initiation of DNA Replication

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Abstract

ROUNDS of DNA replication are initiated in Escherichia coli at different stages in the cell cycle of bacteria growing at different rates1. It is possible to calculate that the initiation of a round of DNA replication always takes place at a time when the cell mass/chromosome origin reaches a particular critical value. In other words, the mass at which initiation takes place is always an integral multiple of a particular mass. This constancy in turn provides an explanation for the increase in size of cells with increase in the rate of growth.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Microbial Genetics Research Unit, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh,

    W. D. DONACHIE

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  1. W. D. DONACHIE
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DONACHIE, W. Relationship between Cell Size and Time of Initiation of DNA Replication. Nature 219, 1077–1079 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2191077a0

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