DNA polymerases are processive, which means that they remain tightly associated with the template strand while moving rapidly and adding nucleotides to the growing daughter strand.Which piece of the replication machinery accounts for this characteristic?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The sliding clamp is responsible for holding the DNA polymerase in place and allowing it to move rapidly along the template strand without dissociating. This contributes to the processivity of DNA replication. Helicase unwinds the double-stranded DNA to create a template for replication, single-strand binding proteins stabilize the unwound template strands, and primase synthesizes RNA primers to initiate DNA synthesis. While these components are important for DNA replication, they do not directly contribute to the processivity of DNA polymerase.

DNA Polymerases Are Processive, Which Means That They Remain Tightly