A Defect in DNA Ligase Would Most Likely Cause

A defect in DNA ligase would most likely cause

A) normal replication, but gaps remain in the sugar-phosphate DNA backbone.
B) failure to remove introns from the primary mRNA.
C) incompletely processed primary mRNA that does not get translated properly.
D) translation to initiate normally but fail to proceed to elongation.
E) DNA strands to separate normally but fail to join nucleotides in the growing nucleotide chain. DNA ligase is needed during DNA replication to seal breaks in the sugar-phosphate backbone after DNA polymerase joins nucleotides into a new chain. If it is defective, all other processes may occur normally, but there will be gaps remaining in the sugar-phosphate DNA backbone when DNA replication occurs.