Question

The proofreading function of DNA polymerase reduces the error rate from about one in a million basepairs to about one in a ________ basepairs.

1) hundred thousand
2) ten thousand
3) thousand
4) ten million
5) hundred million

Answer 1

The proofreading function of DNA polymerase reduces the error rate from about one in a million base pairs to about one in ten billion base pairs.

Step-by-step explanation:

The proofreading function of DNA polymerase significantly enhances the accuracy of DNA replication. While mistakes in inserting base pairs can happen, the chance of errors is dramatically reduced due to the enzyme's ability to check and correct mismatches. Without proofreading, the error rate is about one in a million base pairs, but with the action of DNA polymerase's proofreading, this rate improves to about one in ten billion base pairs.