What are okazaki fragments?
An Okazaki fragment is a relatively short fragment of DNA (with an RNA primer at the 5′ terminus) created on the lagging strand during DNA replication. The lengths of Okazaki fragments are between 1,000 to 2,000 nucleotides long in E. coli and are generally between 100 to 200 nucleotides long in eukaryotes. It was originally discovered in 1968 by Reiji Okazaki, Tsuneko Okazaki, and their colleagues while studying replication of bacteriophage DNA in Escherichia coli. When the lagging strand is being replicated on the original strand, the 5′-3′ pattern must be used; thus a small discontinuity occurs and an Okazaki fragment forms. These fragments are processed by the replication machinery to produce a continuous strand of DNA and hence a complete daughter DNA helix. In dealing with the synthesis of complementary DNA strands the nascent leading strand always reads 3′ to 5′. Its antiparallel complement strand, the nascent lagging strand reads from 5′ to 3′. Because the original strands of D
