DNA Replication Terminologycontinued
Molecular Diagnostics
(MDx) Review 533
TERM EXPLANATION
Discontinuous synthesis
Leading strand
Lagging strand
Okazaki fragments
RNase H
Ligase
Synthesis of daughter strand of DNA from 5’–3’ target strand. DNA polymerase must read target
in 3’ to 5’ direction, so must proceed in nonlinear fashion, reading a section, assembling appropriate
nucleotides, then moving back upstream to read another section in 3’ to 5’ direction. New strand
called lagging strand. Consists of unconnected DNA fragments called Okazaki fragments separated
by RNA primers.Daughter strand synthesized continuously from 3’–5’ template.Daughter strand synthesized discontinuously from 5’–3’ template.Short fragments of unconnected DNA formed during replication of 5’–3’ template.Enzyme that removes RNA primers from daughter strands of DNA.Enzyme that joins DNA fragments together.