How does DNA replication occur in eukaryotes?

DNA replication involves a ‘complex system of enzymes'.  DNA replication is semiconservative (1 stand of the original 2 stranded piece of DNA is conserved)  It is a complex process involving many enzymes and works by  complementary base pairing – Adenine with Thiamine – Guanine with Cytosine. DNA replication occurs faster in prokaryotes than in eukaryotes.  Enzymes used in the process include, Girase which uncoils the super coiled DNA,  Enzyme Helicase separates the two strands of DNA, by breaking hydrogen bonds between the bases, to create a replication fork and also  single stranded binding proteins prevent re-annealing.  These separated strands act as a template for the new strand to be created.   Enzyme Primase iniates the replication process by creating a small piece of RNA called a primer.Polymerase 3 then binds to the RNA primer and creates a new strand of DNA by adding complementary nucleotides one by one and Nucleoside Triphosphate provides energy to add the nucleotides. DNA polymerase 3 can only adds nucleotides from the 5’ to 3’ end. Therefore the leading strand is made by continuous replication but Lagging strand can not be made continuously as it is antiparallel to the leading strand (runs in the opposite direction) , these are made in smaller chunks by Okazaki fragments, each fragment starting with a primer and a short row of bases are added (between 2 primers) another primer is added further down, this process is repeated all the way down the strand. When new strand is formed DNA polymerase 1 removes all primers from the strand and replaces them with DNA nucleotide. DNA ligase then seals all fragments of DNA to create a continuous double strand were one strand is conserved and the other is new. 

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