Master DNA Replication with a Mnemonic

DNA gyrase helps uncoil supercoils in the DNA and stabilize it, as helicase works to separate the strands.

Helicase is a motor protein that moves along the phosphodiester backbone of DNA and separates two annealed strands into single strands.

Single-stranded binding proteins are used to keep the strands separated from each other throughout replication.

DNA polymerase is the enzyme that reads DNA and creates a complementary DNA strand. This enzyme begins DNA synthesis at the site of an RNA primer, which is created by the enzyme primase.

DNA is read in the 3' to 5' direction when being synthesized such that the new strand is made in the 5' to 3' direction. This means that one strand is made continuously, while the other is fragmented.

Primase creates the RNA primers that are used as starting markers for DNA polymerase.

Telomerase caps the ends of DNA, producing a region of hundreds of thousands of repetitive sequences on the 3-prime end. This protects the internal DNA sequences during replication damage, preventing unintended exonuclease activity and overall damage to the DNA sequence.

The Okazaki fragments are the short sections of DNA that are discontinuous due to the 3' to 5' reading of the second strand. They are joined together by an enzyme called DNA ligase.

The Okazaki fragments only exist on the lagging strand, because the leading strand is synthesized continuously.