Answer:
b. the ability to form a replication fork
Step-by-step explanation:
Replication fork refers to the specific point where the parent DNA is unwound to expose the template strands and the separated strands quickly replicated. Both eukaryotic and prokaryotic DNA replication mechanisms include the formation of the replication fork. For circular DNA molecules, both ends of the unwound DNA loop have active replication forks as the replication is bidirectional. The two replication forks meet at a point on the side of the circle opposite to the origin.
For a linear DNA, the leading strand is continuously synthesized in the direction of the movement of the replication fork while the lagging strand is synthesized discontinuously in short pieces called Okazaki fragments in a direction opposite to the movement of the replication fork.