Essentials of Genetics 9th Edition by Michael Palladino William Klug, Michael Cummings, Charlotte Spencer

Exercise 1

In this chapter, we focused on how DNA is replicated and synthesized. In particular, we elucidated the general mechanism of replication and described how DNA is synthesized when it is copied. Based on your study of these topics, answer the following fundamental questions:
(a) What is the experimental basis for concluding that DNA replicates semiconservatively in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
(b) How was it demonstrated that DNA synthesis occurs under the direction of DNA polymerase III and not polymerase I?
(c) How do we know that in vivo DNA synthesis occurs in the 5? to 3? direction?
(d) How do we know that DNA synthesis is discontinuous on one of the two template strands?
(e) What observations reveal that a "telomere problem" exists during eukaryotic DNA replication, and how did we learn of the solution to this problem?