Question

1. Describe DNA synthesis and describe why Okazaki fragments are needed? include the following terms in any order (and please underline them in your answer): leading strand, lagging strand, replication fork, DNA polymerase, direction of DNA synthesis, origin of replication, primer, ligase.

Answer 1

DNA synthesis is the process in which one strand of DNA is passed to the offspring while the other strand of the double helix is synthesized. It is the process of semiconservative replication when the DNA strand of daughter cells comprise of one parental strand and one newly synthesized. The process initiates with the unwinding of two-strand with the help of DNA helicase, which creates the DNA replication fork. At this the DNA initiate to create a new strand. The replication of the DNA initiates at the origin of replication.DNA polymerase is the enzyme used to recognize the RNA primer.

The two-strand of the DNA molecules are called lagging and leading strand.
Leading strand requires a primer to initiates the process which occurs from the 3’ to 5’ direction while the lagging strands involve the synthesis in the direction of 5’ to 3’. Thus it needs to be synthesized in fragments, these fragments are called Okazaki fragments. These fragments are joint by the enzyme ligase.