DNA Replication Fork Movement Rates in Mammalian Cells

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the DNA replication fork-movement rates in mammalian cells. The DNA replication rate is formed by two components: the number of actively operating replicating units (replicons) and the average linear rate at which the DNA replication fork moves along the parental DNA (DNA fork movement rate). The first report of fork-movement rates utilized DNA fiber autoradiography. Several ultracentrifugal methods have been used to estimate DNA fork movement rates. These methods utilize the distribution of DNA along a gradient in an ultracentrifuge tube. The gradient can measure differences in molecular weight or differences in density, and these differences are used to calculate DNA fork-movement rates. DNA fork-movement rates have been examined in a wide variety of mammalian and human cells. Future work to examine the regulation and role of fork movement rates in mammalian cells will depend on developing new or improved methods, better in vitro systems, and new probes or techniques to measure fork-movement rates.