How does a cell complete genome replication?

Accurate and complete genome replication is essential for all life. A single DNA replication error in a single cell division can give rise to genomic disorders, including cancer. Professor Nieduszynski’s research aims to determine how cells faithfully complete genome replication before cell division. Errors in DNA replication occur on single molecules in individual cells. However, these errors can be hidden from view in genomic approaches that look at data from populations of several million cells, causing the pattern of DNA replication in single cells to be hidden by the population average. Consequently, rare problems during DNA replication, including delays in completing replication, cannot currently be readily detected. During this award, Professor Nieduszynski will develop novel single-molecule methods to directly measure DNA replication in single molecules and determine the dynamics of genome replication at the DNA sequence level, and investigate the consequences of insufficient replication origin activity.