DNA replication is a complex biological process essential to maintaining the fidelity of genetic information passed to subsequent generations, while allowing for the mutations necessary for natural selection. The cellular machinery required for DNA replication must be precisely controlled throughout the cycle. A variety of DNA polymerases have proofreading and repairing capabilities to avoid catastrophic errors, thus maintaining genomic stability. Much of the mechanism involved in this process is evolutionarily conserved. Because yeast is a relatively simple and inexpensive organism to work with, much of our understanding of DNA replication in eukaryotes originates from experiments with yeast. The most thoroughly characterized model yeast systems are
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(budding yeast) and
Saccharomyces pombe
(fission yeast).
Key Concepts
Yeast is a good model organism for simplifying and characterising cellular processes, such as DNA replication.
The two most commonly used yeast models are
S. cerevisiae
and
S. pombe
.
DNA replication is a complex biological process essential to genomic replication.
DNA replication is a process that involves timely organisation of proteins and is regulated during the cell cycle by cyclin‐dependent protein kinases.
Termination of DNA replication in yeast is generally not sequence specific, except in special circumstances in the cellular process.