DNA Structure and DNA Replication

Nitrogen Bases

Weak hydrogen bonds

Thymine

DNA polymerase synthesizes new DNA strands by adding nucleotides complementary to the template strand.

Helicase unwinds the DNA double helix, separating the two strands.

The leading strand is synthesized continuously in the direction of the replication fork.

The lagging strand is synthesized discontinuously in short segments called Okazaki fragments.

Primase synthesizes a short RNA primer to provide a starting point for DNA synthesis.

Okazaki fragments are short segments of DNA synthesized on the lagging strand during DNA replication.

DNA is a double helix composed of two strands of nucleotides, with a sugar-phosphate backbone and nitrogenous bases.