Question

A circular molecule of DNA contains 1 million base pairs. If the DNA synthesis at a replication fork occurs at a rate of 100,000 nucleotides per minute, how much time will theta replication require to completely replicate the molecule, assuming that theta replication is bidirectional?

Answer 1

5 minutes

Explanation:

1. In bidirectional replication; there are two replication forks, and each proceeding at a rate of 100,000 (as given in the question) nucleotides per minute.

2. So, by the given rate of replication, we can calculate that, it would require 5 minutes for the circular DNA molecule to be replicated by bidirectional replication because each fork synthesize 500,000 nucleotides in 5 minutes ( 100,000 per minute) ( as given, in 5 minutes × 100,000 nucleotides per minute= 500,000 and by 2 forks= 1,000,000) within the time period.