What finds the primer in DNA replication?
What finds the primer in DNA replication?
Answered
In DNA replication, the enzyme DNA polymerase is responsible for finding and using the RNA primer to begin synthesizing the new DNA strand. DNA polymerase cannot start DNA synthesis on its own; it requires a primer with a free 3′ hydroxyl group to add nucleotides. The primer is synthesized by primase, a type of RNA polymerase, which creates an RNA primer on the single-stranded DNA template. Once the primer is in place, DNA polymerase binds to the primer-template junction and begins adding DNA nucleotides complementary to the template strand. The primer is eventually removed by exonucleases, and the gap is filled in by DNA polymerase. Thus, DNA polymerase works closely with the primer to begin the replication process.