Why is a pre-existing DNA strand necessary for the action of DNA polymerase?
DNA polymerase uses the complementary nature of DNA strands to replicate DNA. The polymerase enzyme does not contain any information about the order of base sequences. Without a template strand of DNA the enzyme is incapable of selecting which base to add to the sequence next. DNA polymerase binds to a DNA strands and adds new material to it in order to build a complementary strand. The complementary nature of the four bases provides the information to build the correct sequence guanines, cytosines, adenines, and thymines. View the animation below, then complete the quiz to test your knowledge of the concept.
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