Replication and re-replication: Different implications of the same mechanism

Replication is a process which provides two copies of genetic material to a mother cell that are essential for passing complete genetic information to daughter cells. Despite the extremely precise control of this process, regulation of replication can be impaired. This may trigger e.g. re-replication which leads to an increase in the total DNA content in a cell and, depending on the intensity, may result in gene amplification, genomic instability or apoptosis. Both replication and re-replication require pre-replication complex assembly, licensing, firing and initiation of DNA synthesis. Implications of each process in a cell are very different and all such possibilities are under intensive research because in both processes the same protein apparatus is used to carry out DNA synthesis. Therefore this article is meant to show the consequences of the same mechanism underlying two different processes.