Explain the process of prokaryotic DNA replication

DNA replication is semi-conservative and occurs in the 5' to 3' direction. In the lagging strand it is discontinuous (forming Okazaki fragments) and in the leading strand it is continuous.
1) First, the enzyme helicase unwinds the two antiparallel DNA strands by breaking hydrogen bonds between complementary base pairs (using energy from ATP)2) Single stranded binding proteins help to keep the strands apart3) Next, the enzyme DNA primase makes RNA primers on the template strand4) DNA polymerase III then adds complementary bases to the open template strands, starting from the RNA primers5) DNA polymerase I then removes the RNA primers with the correct DNA bases6) DNA ligase joins together the Okazaki fragments

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Answered by Pragna K. Biology tutor

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