Question

Eukaryotes have much ______________ genomes and ___________ polymerases than bacteria, but could replicate their genomes faster (if all the origins were activated at the same time).

Answer 1

Eukaryotic genomes are more complex and have more origins of replication than prokaryotes, allowing faster replication if all origins were used, despite eukaryotes' slower per-nucleotide replication rate.

Step-by-step explanation:

Eukaryotes have much larger and more complex genomes and more numerous DNA polymerases than bacteria, but could replicate their genomes faster if all the origins were activated at the same time. While the human genome, which is a eukaryotic genome, consists of approximately 3 billion base pairs per haploid set of chromosomes, a complexity necessitating up to 100,000 origins of replication, prokaryotic organisms like bacteria usually have a single origin of replication and fewer DNA polymerases. Eukaryotic replication is about 100 nucleotides per second, which is much slower than prokaryotic replication; however, the vast number of replication origins in eukaryotes empowers them to complete the genome replication in a comparable time frame to that of prokaryotes.

Eukaryotes have a larger number of DNA polymerases, 14 known types, compared to fewer in prokaryotes, signifying eukaryotic replication complexity.