Chromatin silencing depends on passage through the S-phase of the cell cycle and was widely believed to depend on DNA replication. In two papers in the January 26
Sir silencing
Chromatin silencing depends on passage through the S-phase of the cell cycle and was widely believed to depend on DNA replication. In two papers in the January 26 Science, Kirchmaier and Rine and Li et al. challenge this dogma by reporting that the establishment of transcriptional silencing can occur in the absence of replication (Science 2001, 291:646-650; Science 2001, 291:650-653). Both groups used an ingenious genetic trick, involving site-specific recombination, to generate non-replicating

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