Abstract
Cells replicate half of their genome as short fragments that are put together later on. The way in which this process is linked to the formation of DNA–protein complexes called nucleosomes is now becoming clearer. See Article p.434 Replication of the lagging strand of DNA involves the production of discrete Okazaki fragments that are ligated together. Nucleosome assembly is coupled to replication, and until now it was not known how this might affect Okazaki-fragment processing. Duncan Smith and Iestyn Whitehouse now show that, unexpectedly, Okazaki-fragment ligation occurs at the midpoint of DNA that wraps around a nucleosome, rather than in internucleosomal regions. In addition, alterations in chromatin assembly or lagging-strand polymerization affect Okazaki-fragment size, suggesting that the assembly of chromatin is a signal for termination of Okazaki-fragment synthesis.
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