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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.
The eukaryotic cell cycle consists of four distinct phases: G 1 phase, S phase (synthesis), G 2 phase (collectively known as interphase) and M phase (mitosis and cytokinesis). M phase is itself composed of two tightly coupled processes: mitosis, in which the cell's nucleus divides, and cytokinesis, in which the cell's cytoplasm and cell membrane divides forming two daughter cells.
The process of semiconservative replication for the site of DNA replication is a fork-like DNA structure, the replication fork, where the DNA helix is open, or unwound, exposing unpaired DNA nucleotides for recognition and base pairing for the incorporation of free nucleotides into double-stranded DNA. [3]
Figure 2: Replication proceeds via the nearly synchronous firing of clusters of replication origins that replicate segments of chromosomal DNA (“Replication domains”) at defined time periods during S phase. Figure 3:Animated sequence of replication.
Interphase consists of three main phases: G 1, S, and G 2. G 1 is a time of growth for the cell where specialized cellular functions occur in order to prepare the cell for DNA replication. [16] There are checkpoints during interphase that allow the cell to either advance or halt further development.
S phase (Synthesis phase) is the phase of the cell cycle in which DNA is replicated, occurring between G 1 phase and G 2 phase. [1] Since accurate duplication of the genome is critical to successful cell division, the processes that occur during S-phase are tightly regulated and widely conserved.
[3] Synthesis (S), in which the cell synthesizes its DNA and the amount of DNA is doubled but the number of chromosomes remains constant (via semiconservative replication). G 2 (Gap 2), in which the cell resumes its growth in preparation for division. The cell continues to grow until mitosis begins. In plants, chloroplasts divide during G2.
DNA structure varies with time, space, and sequence, and it is thought that these variations, in addition to their role in gene expression, also play active roles in replisome assembly during DNA synthesis. Replisome assembly at an origin of replication is roughly divided into three phases. For bacteria: Formation of pre-replication complex.