Question

Regarding the process of lagging strand synthesis in DNA replication, what is responsible for interacting with the primase to initiate each Okazaki fragment, and what happens to the clamp associated with the core at the end of each Okazaki fragment?

A) Helicase interacts with primase, and the clamp associated with the core remains bound continuously.
B) DNA polymerase interacts with primase, and the clamp associated with the core dissociates at the end of each Okazaki fragment.
C) Primase interacts with helicase, and the clamp associated with the core dissociates at the end of each Okazaki fragment.
D) Helicase interacts with primase, and the clamp associated with the core dissociates at the end of each Okazaki fragment.

Answer 1

During DNA replication on the lagging strand, primase interacts with helicase to initiate Okazaki fragments, and the sliding clamp dissociates after each fragment is completed, with DNA ligase linking all the fragments into a continuous strand.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the process of lagging strand synthesis during DNA replication, the enzyme primase interacts with the helicase, initiating the synthesis of Okazaki fragments. After each Okazaki fragment is completed, the DNA polymerase must release the sliding clamp before moving on to synthesize the next fragment. Therefore, the correct answer is D) Helicase interacts with primase, and the clamp associated with the core dissociates at the end of each Okazaki fragment.

Within this process, the sliding clamp is a critical component that holds the DNA polymerase in place as it adds nucleotides. However, once an Okazaki fragment is completed, the clamp must be released to allow the replication machinery to reset and begin synthesis of the next fragment. Eventually, these fragments are linked together into a single continuous strand by the enzyme DNA ligase, which seals the nicks remaining after the RNA primers are replaced by DNA.