User:Bianca Varney/Bacterial Replication Termination: Difference between revisions

Bacterial replication termination is mediated by replication terminator proteins that bind to polar inverted repeats approximately 180 degrees from the origin of replication (OriC). Replication terminator proteins bind bacterial DNA at termination (Ter) sites. When the replication forks meet with terminator proteins bound to Ter sites, replication is arrested, and DNA polymerase falls off the bacterial chromosome. However, protein-Ter interactions are orientation specific, and will only arrest the replication forks traveling in on one direction; either clockwise or anticlockwise. This means that one replication fork will be arrested at a Ter site, while the other fork, traveling in the opposite direction, will pass through the site unimpeded, allowing the entire bacterial chromosome to be copied. The area loaded with Ter sites in the chromosome is called a "replication fork trap".

==Mechanism==