Question

DNA polymerases are processive, which means that they remain tightly associated with the template strand while moving rapidly and adding nucleotides to the growing daughter strand. Which piece of the replication machinery accounts for this characteristic?•(a) helicase•(b) sliding clamp•(c) single-strand binding protein•(d) primase

Answer 1

The correct answer is option (b) "sliding clamp".

Step-by-step explanation:

The DNA replication machinery has multiple components that allow for making a copy of a DNA strand. Among them, the sliding clamp is the one that serves as a processivity-promoting factor. This clamp is the one that allows the binding of DNA polymerase and prevents this enzyme from dissociating from the DNA. Therefore, sliding clamp is responsible for the tightly association of DNA polymerases with the template strand.