What is the difference between DNA ligase and DNA polymerase?
DNA polymerase is an enzyme that assists in DNA replication, by adding free nucleotides to the 3’ end of a newly-forming strand. DNA ligase is a special type of ligase that can link together two DNA strands that have single-strand breaks (a break in both complementary strands of DNA). The alternative, a double-strand break, is fixed by a different type of DNA ligase using the complementary strand as a template but still requires DNA ligase to create the final phosphodiester bond to fully repair the DNA.
