On the Bacterial Life Sequence

  1. C. Helmstetter,
  2. S. Cooper*,
  3. O. Pierucci, and
  4. E. Revelas
  1. Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York

This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.

Excerpt

The life of the cell is usually described as a recurrent sequence of biochemical events, e.g., the life cycle, the cell cycle, or the division cycle. Since cell division is the end of one life sequence, it would also be the beginning of the next one if the sequences recur consecutively. In this report, we suggest that the life sequence is a linear progression of events which is not necessarily inaugurated at division nor necessarily recurrent. It consists of three steps:

(1) The life sequence begins with the accumulation of the ‘initiator’ of chromosome replication, (2) when a threshold amount of ‘initiator’ has accumulated, replication begins at a fixed point on the chromosome and traverses its entire length, and (3) the arrival of the replication point at the terminus of the chromosome is followed by a series of events which terminates in division. Thus the frequency of cell division is...

  • *

    * Dept. of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Buffalo, and Children's Hospital, Buffalo, New York

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