title: Nuclear DNA replication initiation in kinetoplastid parasites: new insights into an ancient process.
abstract: Nuclear DNA replication is, arguably, the central cellular process in eukaryotes, because it drives propagation of life and intersects with many other genome reactions. Perhaps surprisingly, our understanding of nuclear DNA replication in kinetoplastids was limited until a clutch of studies emerged recently, revealing new insight into both the machinery and genome-wide coordination of the reaction. Here, we discuss how these studies suggest that the earliest acting components of the kinetoplastid nuclear DNA replication machinery - the factors that demarcate sites of the replication initiation, termed origins - are diverged from model eukaryotes. In addition, we discuss how origin usage and replication dynamics relate to the highly unusual organisation of transcription in the genome of Trypanosoma brucei.
authors.affiliation: The University of Glasgow, Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology and Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK; The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Calvin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tiengwe
authors.affiliation: The University of Glasgow, Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology and Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK.
authors.forename: Catarina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: The University of Glasgow, Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology and Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK. Electronic address: richard.mcculloch@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCulloch
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004261:DNA Replication; D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast / Q000235:genetics*; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D016830:Kinetoplastida / Q000235:genetics*; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast
keywords: DNA replication; Trypanosoma; kinetoplastid; origin of replication; origin recognition complex