Question

DNA polymerase III can only add nucleotides to the 5' OH group
A)True
B)False

Answer 1

False,DNA polymerase III adds nucleotides to the free 3'-OH group of the existing DNA strand to synthesize a new strand in the 5' to 3' direction, making the statement false.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement 'DNA polymerase III can only add nucleotides to the 5' OH group' is false.

DNA polymerase III adds nucleotides by attaching them to the free 3'-OH group on the existing strand, thereby synthesizing a new strand in the 5' to 3' direction. This process of DNA synthesis occurs during replication, where the enzyme reads the template strand in a 3' to 5' direction.

This is necessary because polymerases require a primer with a free 3'-OH group, typically provided by RNA primase, to start replication.