Question

You have a bacterial cell in which a mutation occurred. You observe that Okazaki fragments are created but not linked as one continuous strand. Which gene is mutated?

a) DNA helicase
b) DNA ligase
c) DNA primase
d) DNA polymerase III

Answer 1

The gene most likely mutated leading to unlinked Okazaki fragments in a bacterial cell is the one encoding for DNA ligase, which is responsible for joining these fragments into a continuous strand.

Step-by-step explanation:

If you observe that Okazaki fragments are created but not linked as one continuous strand in a bacterial cell, this suggests a problem with the process of joining these fragments together during DNA replication. The enzyme responsible for this task is DNA ligase, which acts to seal nicks in the DNA backbone, covalently joining the Okazaki fragments of the lagging strand to form a continuous DNA molecule. Therefore, the gene most likely mutated in this scenario would be the one encoding for DNA ligase.