DNA damage-inducible replication of the Escherichia coli chromosome is initiated at separable sites within the minimal oriC.

When Escherichia coli cells are subjected to genetic stress by exposure to agents or conditions that transiently block DNA replication, the mode of DNA replication is profoundly altered. One of the alterations is the induction of inducible stable DNA replication (iSDR) that does not require the initiator protein, DnaA, and occurs despite the presence of rifampin and chloramphenicol, which inhibit the initiation of usual chromosome replication at oriC. It has been demonstrated that iSDR starts primarily from both the oriC and terC regions of the chromosome. To precisely map the iSDR origin (oriM1) located in the oriC region, various oriC fragments were inserted into a plasmid vector derived from pSC101, and the copy number of these plasmid constructs was measured in the presence of rifampin and chloramphenicol after cells were induced for the SOS response by thymine starvation. The results indicated that there are at least two origins for iSDR within the minimal oriC; one (oriM1A) is located between the BamHI (coordinate +1) and the AvaII(155) sites, and the other (oriM1B) between the AvaII(155) and the HindIII(244) sites. Furthermore, a 263 bp fragment containing oriM1, which was placed at the att lambda site of the chromosome, was found to initiate chromosome replication in the presence of the drugs when cells were starved of thymine. Introduction of additional copies of oriM1 into a cell stimulated initiation of iSDR at oriM1 on the chromosome. The result supported the model that iSDR starts from D-loops created between oriM1 sequences and that the amount of D-loops determines the level of the iSDR activity.