Bacterial Replication

Many of you remember your time in biology class talking about helicase, topoisomerase, DNA polymerase, and company, but an oddly understudied component to bacterial replication is what happens at a cellular level while the DNA is replicating. First, and most importantly, the DNA is going to get tangled up because, as you open up the twisted structure, the downstream DNA will get tangled. This is ameliorated by Topoisomerase. The next important consideration is the circularity of the genome in bacteria. Because the DNA is circular, at the and of DNA replication, the two circles will be intertwined and need to be broken and resealed—a process that is accomplished by the ParA/ParB complex. Next, the cells have to separate, and the protein that helps accomplish this task is FtsZ which pulls the sides of the cell together until they fuse making two separate cells. There are many more proteins involved in this process, but these are some of the interesting proteins I felt were worth sharing. Enjoy!