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Handbook of Genetics pp 169–186Cite as

Organization and Size of Replicons

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Abstract

The term replicon as applied to eukaryotes is probably used incorrectly. In Jacob and Brenner’s original definition (1963), the replicon had autonomous control over its own replication, and initiation occurred at a membrane site. The evidence as it now stands strongly suggests that duplication of units of DNA replication, in mammalian cells at least, is controlled primarily by factors external to those units. The term will be used in this chapter with the following definition: a eukaryotic replicon is a segment of DNA containing exactly one site, called the origin, at which initiation of DNA replication begins and from which both parental strands are duplicated. This operational definition, which is an elaboration on one proposed by Blumenthal et al. (1973), differs from the original one for prokaryotes not only in that it lacks an indication of control mechanisms but also in that it does not implicate any cellular structures outside of DNA as being involved in initiation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Radiobiology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA

    Robert B. Painter

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  1. Robert B. Painter
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Robert C. King (Professor of Genetics) (Professor of Genetics)

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© 1976 Plenum Press, New York

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Painter, R.B. (1976). Organization and Size of Replicons. In: King, R.C. (eds) Handbook of Genetics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7148-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7148-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7150-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-7148-3

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