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Similar DNA packaging exists also in chloroplasts and mitochondria. Bacterial DNA is sometimes referred to as the bacterial chromosome . Bacterial nucleoid evolutionary represents an intermediate engineering solution between the protein-free DNA packing in viruses and protein-determined packing in eukaryotes.
When compared to prokaryotic DNA replication, namely in bacteria, the completion of eukaryotic DNA replication is more complex and involves multiple origins of replication and replicative proteins to accomplish. Prokaryotic DNA is arranged in a circular shape, and has only one replication origin when replication starts.
This is a big task as the nucleus of a mammalian cell has a diameter of approximately 6 μm, whilst the DNA in one human cell would stretch to just over 2 metres long if it were unwound. [6] The "beads on a string" structure can compact DNA to 7 times smaller. [1] The solenoid structure can increase this to be 40 times smaller. [2]
Within eukaryotes, DNA replication is controlled within the context of the cell cycle. As the cell grows and divides, it progresses through stages in the cell cycle; DNA replication takes place during the S phase (synthesis phase). The progress of the eukaryotic cell through the cycle is controlled by cell cycle checkpoints.
Prokaryotic DNA Replication is the process by which a prokaryote duplicates its DNA into another copy that is passed on to daughter cells. [1] Although it is often studied in the model organism E. coli, other bacteria show many similarities. [2] Replication is bi-directional and originates at a single origin of replication (OriC). [3]
This can either involve the replication of DNA in living organisms such as prokaryotes and eukaryotes, or that of DNA or RNA in viruses, such as double-stranded RNA viruses. [3] Synthesis of daughter strands starts at discrete sites, termed replication origins, and proceeds in a bidirectional manner until all genomic DNA is replicated.
This timing and other regulatory mechanisms ensure that DNA replication will only occur once per cell cycle. Assembly of the pre-RC relies on prior origin recognition, either by DnaA in prokaryotes or by ORC in archaea and eukaryotes. The pre-RC of prokaryotes is complete when DnaA occupies all possible binding sites within the oriC.
In eukaryotes, DNA is located in the cell nucleus, with small amounts in mitochondria and chloroplasts. In prokaryotes, the DNA is held within an irregularly shaped body in the cytoplasm called the nucleoid. [97] The genetic information in a genome is held within genes, and the complete set of this information in an organism is called its genotype.