Learning Strategies in Biochemistry:
Replication

Revised 2008/05/22

Essential Review

See the Learning Strategy for Nucleic Acids.

Useful Activities

1) Find the key illustrations that shows the topology of leading- and lagging-strand replication. To enhance your understanding of this figure, learn to draw it without aids, including stages between those shown. Label your drawings as follows:

1. Label the 3' and 5' ends of primers.
2. Label primers A, B, and C, in the order of their synthesis.
3. Use arrows to indicate the movement of DNA strands through Pol-III active sites.

2) Add structural details to all figures that show chemical reactions involving nucleic acid strands. Flesh out this chemistry by drawing the full structures of the nucleotides being linked.

3) Draw full mechanisms, with complete structures of the nucleotides directly involved, for

• 3'-5' exonuclease activity.
• 5'-3' exonuclease activity.
• restriction endonuclease activity.

Biochemistry Resources