text: Each cell division cycle triggers a new round of chromosome replication by DnaA, the initiator protein. It is crucial to regulate DnaA-ATP monomer interactions with oriC during helicase loading and unwinding of origin DNA for precise timing. DnaA recognition sites in Escherichia coli are arranged in OriC to facilitate staged pre-replication complex assembling, with DnaA interacting with low affinity sites at it oligomerizes to fill the gaps between high affinity sites as it oligomerizes. There may be numerous gap-filling strategies to link OriC functions to bacterial lifestyles in nature, which may account for the wide variability of OriC DnaA recognition site patterns. The two forms of DnaA, the active ATP- and ADP-form are regulated. The ATP-form is converted to the ADP-form through either Regulatory inactivation of DnaA (RIDA), which in turn consists of the Hda protein and the β sliding clamp (DnaN) and datA-dependent DnaA-ATP hydrolysis. The ADP-form is converted to the ATP-form by DnaA-reactivating sequences 1 and 2 (DARS1 and DARS2).