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. 1969 Oct;100(1):260–268. doi: 10.1128/jb.100.1.260-268.1969

Control of Cell Division in Escherichia coli: Experiments with Thymine Starvation

W D Donachie 1
PMCID: PMC315387  PMID: 4898992

Abstract

This paper describes the kinetics of cell division in populations of cells which have been grown first under conditions which specifically inhibit deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis (in the absence of thymine or the presence of nalidixic acid) and subsequently under conditions which allow DNA synthesis to recommence. Cell division does not take place during inhibition of DNA synthesis. There is a delay between recommencement of DNA synthesis and recommencement of cell division. The length of this delay increases as a function of the length of the preceding period of inhibition of DNA synthesis. The first division after this delay is partly synchronous, but all subsequent division is asynchronous. These observations are explained in terms of a model which supposes that the formation of initiator of chromosome replication during a period when DNA synthesis is inhibited results in a block to cell division. Division does not then occur until this “extra” round of DNA synthesis is completed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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