chapter 16

DNA polymerase

DNA contains the template needed to copy itself, but it has no catalytic activity in cells. What catalyzes the formation of phosphodiester bonds between adjacent nucleotides in the DNA polymer being formed during DNA replication?

DNA replication is semiconservative

In DNA replication, the resulting daughter molecules contain one strand of the original parental DNA and one new strand. What is the explanation for this phenomenon?

DNA polymerase III

In E. coli, which enzyme catalyzes the elongation of a new DNA strand in the 5' → 3' direction?

sequences of bases

It became apparent to Watson and Crick after completion of their model that the DNA molecule could carry a vast amount of hereditary information. Which of the following characteristics of DNA is responsible for this?

The 5' to 3' direction of one strand runs counter to the 5' to 3' direction of the other strand

What is meant by the description "antiparallel" regarding the two strands that make up the DNA double helix?

DNA polymerase can join new nucleotides only to the 3 end of a pre-existing strand, and the strands are antiparallel.

What is the basis for the difference in how the leading and lagging strands of DNA molecules are synthesized?

DNA contains phosphorus, whereas protein does not

Which of the following facts did Hershey and Chase make use of in trying to determine whether DNA or protein is the genetic material?

Erwin Chargaff

Which of the following investigators was (were) responsible for the discovery that in DNA from any species, the amount of adenine equals the amount of thymine, and the amount of guanine equals the amount of cytosine?

nucleosome, 30-nm chromatin fiber, looped domain

Which of the following lists represents the order of increasingly higher levels of organization of chromatin?

Meselson and Stahl

Who performed classic experiments that supported the semiconservative model of DNA replication?