Question

If you wanted to speed up how quickly you can add nucleotide monomers to a nucleic acid polymer, what could you add to the reaction?

Answer 1

To speed up the addition of nucleotide monomers to a nucleic acid polymer, one could add polymerases, which catalyze the formation of phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides and can increase the rate of nucleotide addition by orders of magnitude.

Step-by-step explanation:

To speed up the addition of nucleotide monomers to a nucleic acid polymer, one could add enzymes called polymerases. Polymerases catalyze the formation of phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides, which are the bonds that link nucleotides together in a DNA or RNA molecule. Polymerases can increase the rate of nucleotide addition by orders of magnitude compared to non-enzymatic reactions. There are many different types of polymerases, each with specific functions and properties, and they are widely used in various biotechnology applications, such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and DNA sequencing.