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Eukaryotes initiate DNA replication at multiple points in the chromosome, so replication forks meet and terminate at many points in the chromosome. Because eukaryotes have linear chromosomes, DNA replication is unable to reach the very end of the chromosomes. Due to this problem, DNA is lost in each replication cycle from the end of the chromosome.
Reverse transcribing viruses replicate their genomes by reverse transcribing DNA copies from their RNA; these DNA copies are then transcribed to new RNA. Retrotransposons also spread by copying DNA and RNA from one another, [66] and telomerase contains an RNA that is used as template for building the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. [67]
This also removes the need for an RNA primer to initiate RNA synthesis, as is the case in DNA replication. The non -template (sense) strand of DNA is called the coding strand , because its sequence is the same as the newly created RNA transcript (except for the substitution of uracil for thymine).
From there, the RNA acts as a template for complementary RNA synthesis. The complementary strand acts as a template for the production of new viral genomes that are packaged and released from the cell ready to infect more host cells. The advantage of this method of replication is that no DNA stage complicates replication.
RNA-dependent DNA polymerases are a specialized class of polymerases that copy the sequence of an RNA strand into DNA. They include reverse transcriptase , which is a viral enzyme involved in the infection of cells by retroviruses , and telomerase , which is required for the replication of telomeres.
In addition, human immunodeficiency virus, a single-stranded RNA virus, encodes an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase) that uses complementarity to catalyze genome replication. The reverse transcriptase can switch between two parental RNA genomes by copy-choice recombination during replication.
Rolling circle replication (RCR) is a process of unidirectional nucleic acid replication that can rapidly synthesize multiple copies of circular molecules of DNA or RNA, such as plasmids, the genomes of bacteriophages, and the circular RNA genome of viroids. Some eukaryotic viruses also replicate their DNA or RNA via the rolling circle mechanism.
A second version of the central dogma is popular but incorrect. This is the simplistic DNA → RNA → protein pathway published by James Watson in the first edition of The Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965). Watson's version differs from Crick's because Watson describes a two-step (DNA → RNA and RNA → protein) process as the central ...