In molecular biology, the ter site, also known as DNA replication terminus binding-site, refers to a protein domain which binds to the DNA replication terminus site. Ter-binding proteins are found in some

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

l species, and include the

tus Tus or TUS may refer to: * Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences * Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code Education * Technological Univ ...

protein which is part of the common ter-tus binding domain. They are required for the

termination Termination may refer to: Science *Termination (geomorphology), the period of time of relatively rapid change from cold, glacial conditions to warm interglacial condition *Termination factor, in genetics, part of the process of transcribing RNA ...

DNA replication In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all living organisms acting as the most essential part for biological inheritanc ...

and function by binding to DNA replication

terminator Terminator may refer to: Science and technology Genetics * Terminator (genetics), the end of a gene for transcription * Terminator technology, proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation s ...

sequences, thus preventing the passage of replication forks. The termination efficiency is affected by the affinity of a particular protein for the terminator

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

. In ''E. coli'', there are 10 closely ter related sites encoded in the

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

. The sites are designated ''TerA'', ''TerB'', ..., ''TerJ''. Each site is 23 base pairs.

Function

A DNA replication terminus (ter) has a role in preventing progress of the DNA

replication fork In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all living organisms acting as the most essential part for biological inheritanc ...

. Therefore, a DNA replication terminus site-binding protein binds to this site helping to block the DNA replication fork. There are two genes controlling ter-binding activity, named tau and

References

{{InterPro content, IPR008865 Protein families