Most bacteria do not go through a well-defined cell cycle and instead continuously copy their DNA; during rapid growth this can result in multiple rounds of replication occurring concurrently.[17] Within E coli, the most well-characterized bacteria, regulation of DNA replication can be achieved through several mechanisms, including: the hemimethylation and sequestering of the origin sequence, the ratio of ATP to ADP, and the levels of protein DnaA. These all control the process of initiator proteins binding to the origin sequences.
Because E coli methylates GATC DNA sequences, DNA synthesis results in hemimethylated sequences. This hemimethylated DNA is recognized by a protein (SeqA) which binds and sequesters the origin sequence; in addition, dnaA (required for initiation of replication) binds less well to hemimethylated DNA. As a result, newly replicated origins are prevented from immediately initiating another round of DNA replication.[18]
ATP builds up when the cell is in a rich medium, triggering DNA replication once the cell has reached a specific size. ATP competes with ADP to bind to DnaA, and the DnaA-ATP complex is able to initiate replication. A certain number of DnaA proteins are also required for DNA replication — each time the origin is copied the number of binding sites for DnaA doubles, requiring the synthesis of more DnaA to enable another initiation of replication.