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Asymmetry in the synthesis of leading and lagging strands. Okazaki fragments are short sequences of DNA nucleotides (approximately 150 to 200 base pairs long in eukaryotes) which are synthesized discontinuously and later linked together by the enzyme DNA ligase to create the lagging strand during DNA replication. [1]
During replication, these strands are separated. Each strand of the original DNA molecule then serves as a template for the production of its counterpart, a process referred to as semiconservative replication. As a result, the new helix will be composed of an original DNA strand as well as a newly synthesized strand. [7]
Initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication is the first stage of DNA synthesis where the DNA double helix is unwound and an initial priming event by DNA polymerase α occurs on the leading strand. The priming event on the lagging strand establishes a replication fork.
As a summary, a typical DNA rolling circle replication has five steps: [2] Circular dsDNA will be "nicked". The 3' end is elongated using "unnicked" DNA as leading strand (template); 5' end is displaced. Displaced DNA is a lagging strand and is made double stranded via a series of Okazaki fragments. Replication of both "unnicked" and displaced ...
One strand is replicated continuously towards unwinding, separating the portion of the original DNA molecule; while the other strand is replicated discontinuously in the opposite direction with the formation of a series of short DNA segments called Okazaki fragments. Each Okazaki fragment requires a separate RNA primer.
As DNA polymerases can only extend a DNA strand in a 5′ to 3′ direction, different mechanisms are used to copy the antiparallel strands of the double helix. [105] In this way, the base on the old strand dictates which base appears on the new strand, and the cell ends up with a perfect copy of its DNA.
Slipped strand mispairing (SSM, also known as replication slippage) is a mutation process which occurs during DNA replication. It involves denaturation and displacement of the DNA strands, resulting in mispairing of the complementary bases. Slipped strand mispairing is one explanation for the origin and evolution of repetitive DNA sequences. [1]
During replication DNA polymerase begins to copy the DNA. At some point during the replication process, the polymerase dissociates from the DNA and replication stalls. When the polymerase reattaches to the DNA strand, it aligns the replicating strand to an incorrect position and incidentally copies the same section more than once.