Metazoan lagging-strand DNA synthesis shown to be distributive, not replisome-tethered
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Single-molecule imaging has revealed that lagging-strand DNA synthesis in metazoans is distributive: polymerase alpha and polymerase delta are repeatedly recruited to the fork rather than remaining stably bound to the replisome. This finding uncouples lagging-strand synthesis from leading-strand synthesis, challenging the conventional model of a replication fork in which the two strands are copied in coordinated association. The mechanism appears in Cell on 2026-10-22. The imaging establishes the distributive recruitment pattern as an observation, but how repeated Pol alpha and Pol delta recruitment is regulated across different cell types and replication contexts is not yet resolved.
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- cell.comPickMetazoan lagging-strand DNA synthesis is distributive
Single-molecule imaging shows that metazoan lagging-strand DNA synthesis is distributive, driven by repeated recruitment of Pol alpha and Pol delta rather than stable association of both with the replisome. This mechanism uncouples leading- and lagging-strand synthesis, distinguishing it from the conventional replication fork model in which the two act together. Link: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)01204-3?rss=yes
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