Final answer:
Bacterial DNA replication proceeds bidirectionally from a single origin, with new DNA strands synthesized in a 5' to 3' direction, including continuous replication on the leading strand and discontinuous replication through Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand.
Step-by-step explanation:
The direction of replication in bacterial DNA is a sophisticated process. DNA replication takes place in a 5' to 3' direction. DNA polymerase, the enzyme responsible for synthesizing new DNA strands, reads the template strand in a 3' to 5' direction while it adds nucleotides to the new strand in a 5' to 3' direction. Notably, replication is bidirectional, starting from a single origin and proceeding in both directions with two replication forks.
DNA synthesis on the leading strand is continuous and follows the replication fork, whereas the lagging strand is synthesized in short stretches known as Okazaki fragments. These fragments are joined together by the formation of phosphodiester linkages to complete the replication process on the lagging strand.