Does S. pombe exploit the intrinsic asymmetry of DNA synthesis to imprint daughter cells for mating-type switching?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Microscopy of Fission Yeast Sexual Lifecycle
Published on: March 9, 2016
1Marie Curie Research Institute, The Chart, Oxted, Surrey, UK RH8 0TL. J.dalgaard@mcri.ac.uk
Abstract:
Typically cell division is envisaged to be symmetrical, with both daughter cells being identical. However, during development and cellular differentiation, asymmetrical cell divisions have a crucial role. In this article, we describe a model of how Schizosaccharomyces pombe exploits the intrinsic asymmetry of DNA replication machinery--the difference between the replication of the leading strand and the lagging strand--to establish an asymmetrical mating-type switching pattern. This is the first system where the direction of DNA replication is involved in the formation of differentiated chromosomes. The discovery raises the possibility that DNA replication might be more generally involved in the establishment of asymmetric cellular differentiation.
Related Concept Videos
Yeast Signaling
Binary Fission
Meiosis I
Crossing Over
The homologous pairs of sister chromosomes—one from the maternal and one from the paternal genome—then begin to align alongside each other lengthwise, matching corresponding DNA positions in a process called synapsis.
In order to...
Gene Conversion
Binary Fission

