Replication Fork
During DNA replication inside
a cell, each of the two old DNA strands serves
as a template for the formation of an entire new
strand. Because each of the to daughters of a
dividing cell inherits a new DNA double helix
containing one old and one new strand, the DNA
double helix is said to be replicated
“semiconservetively” by DNA polymerase.
Analyses carried
out in the early 1960s on whole replicating
chromosomes revealed a localized region of
replication that moves progressively along the
parental DNA double helix. Because of its Y
shaped structure, this reactive region is called
a replication fork. At a replication fork, the
DNA both new daughter strand is synthesized by a
multienzyme complex that contains the DNA
polymerase.
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