General Science • BiologyHard
During DNA replication in living cells, what is the precise function of the enzyme DNA ligase in joining lagging strand fragments?
A. Catalyzing the formation of phosphodiester bonds between adjacent Okazaki fragments after primer removal✓ Correct Answer
B. Unwinding the double helix parental strands ahead of the advancing replication fork
C. Synthesizing short complementary RNA primer segments required for DNA polymerase initiation
D. Proofreading newly synthesized nucleotide sequences to excise mismatched base pairs
💡 Solution & Explanation
DNA ligase seals nicks in the sugar-phosphate backbone by catalyzing phosphodiester bond formation between the 3 prime hydroxyl and 5 prime phosphate termini of adjacent DNA segments on the lagging strand. Helicase unwinds the double helix. Primase synthesizes RNA primers. DNA polymerase exhibits proofreading exonuclease activity to correct replication errors. Okazaki fragments are synthesized discontinuously on the lagging strand template during eukaryotic and prokaryotic replication.
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