Functional Dissection of the Bacterial Replisome

该项目旨在开发和使用一套新的单分子技术来定义细菌复制体的真正工作方式。复制体是在即将分裂的细胞中制造DNA的机器。复制体具有许多机械挑战，因为它们同时复制两条DNA链。多年的经典生物化学研究已经确定了这些挑战中有多少是可以克服的。近年来，单分子生物物理学技术的应用已经开始挑战教科书上关于复制体功能的许多观点。这种方法有望揭示两条DNA链在不同方向上的合成是如何同时耦合在一起的，以及计时机制是如何工作的。

This project aims to develop and use a suite of new single-molecule techniques to define how the bacterial replisome really works. The replisome is the machine that makes DNA in cells that are about to divide. Replisomes have many mechanistic challenges as they work to copy both strands of DNA at the same time. Many years of classic biochemical studies have worked out how many of these challenges are overcome. In recent years, the use of single-molecule biophysical techniques has begun to challenge many aspects of the elegant textbook view of replisome function. This approach is expected to reveal how synthesis of the two DNA strands in different directions at the same time is coupled together and how timing mechanisms work.