The biosynthetic process by which copies of a DNA molecule are made.
Questions tagged [dna-replication]
132 questions
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Why and how is DNA synthesis so much faster then RNA synthesis in bacteria?
DNA synthesis in E. coli is 20x faster than RNA synthesis at 1000nt/s vs 50nt/s. (Mirkin'05)
I find that perplexing since DNA polymerization has better proofreading than the RNA variety, which requires extra time as you need to backtrack, excise,…
SeanJ
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What is, (and what isn't) "kinetic replication" as it applies to molecules and to living organisms?
CNN's World's first living robots can now reproduce, scientists say describes "xenobots"; clusters of stem cells that move around and by this motion occasionally push enough free stem cells together such that they form a new one, at least that's my…
uhoh
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Can mitochondria become cancerous?
Given that mitochondria have their own DNA and can replicate independently, can they ever become cancerous? For example, could a mutation in their DNA cause them to rapidly replicate, ultimately killing the cell it's in?
F16Falcon
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When does histone synthesis occur in relation to DNA replication?
Do histones have to be synthesized before DNA is replicated to allow the DNA to coil around histones?
Laura kirkpatrick
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Are all Y-chromosomes the same?
Since the Y-chromosome can only pass from male to male child, it would seem to pass intact. Thus, a boy's Y-chromosomes would, I guess, be the same as his father's. Going backwards, would not all men have identical Y-chromosomes for this reason,…
Imprisoned Rhesus
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Does gene orientation relative to origin of replication matter on small plasmids?
The recent question about forward vs. reverse strand got me thinking about directionality conventions in synthetic biology.
As noted in the answer to that question, if we consider only DNA in isolation, the strands are symmetric and there is no…
jakebeal
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Can a dividing cell that skipped DNA replication become cancerous?
Let's assume that a cell fails to replicate its DNA during the S Phase of the cell cycle. Let's also assume that the appropriate CDKs are inactive (perhaps due to mutation or lack of cyclin proteins etc.) and the G2-M checkpoint fails.
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theforestecologist
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How is a portion of DNA selected and unwound from nucleosome?
If I understand this correctly during interphase most of the DNA strand is tightly wound around histones in the form of nucleosomes, to conserve space in the nucleus. Yet RNA polymerase in order to work needs a part of DNA to be temporarily unwound.…
Ardath
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DNA & mRNA During Transcription
Just a simple, quick question: how are the mRNA and the template strand of the DNA structured during transcription? I've seen models and videos of them when they're both flat/straight (is that just for simplicity?) and others where they're…
Alex P
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Why doesn't telomerase activity cause DNA to get longer each time a cell undergoes DNA replication?
Telomerase extends the ends of the lagging strands in order for all of DNA to be be copied. Doesn't this also mean that DNA gets progressively longer each time it undergoes replication? Why is this not the case?
notorious
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How does bonding between non-complementary bases occur?
My teacher told me that when DNA polymerase makes an error (roughly every 10 million nucleotides?) that if, for example, it matches an A with a G that the error remains and is the main cause of point mutations. How do the two bases that aren't…
Fazal Syed
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How do point mutations arise from mistakes in DNA replication?
Hi! I'm trying to make sense of this illustration (from the textbook Biological Science by Scott Freeman).
The general question is: How do point mutations arise from mistakes in DNA replication?
If you don't mind, however, I'd like to explain how I…
Daniel
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Thermodynamically, how did the first cell arise?
Living cells are biochemical systems that constantly perform chemical reactions. One of the important consequences of these chemical reactions is the capacity of a living cell to replicate itself. The daughter cells will also constantly perform…
seamos
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Which method of gene amplification for toehold switches?
My team and I are from a high school and are planning to carry out some research investigating some toehold switch riboregulators which we have designed in silico. However, we have little experience in wet lab work. We plan to order 3 genes…
Peter Heywood
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How do mutations actually occur?
DNA replication seems so mechanical- the DNA polymerase just running along the template strand. I just don't understand how mutations can arise. When it comes to substitutions, I get that a wrong nucleotide may just bind and it won't be as strong a…
Meep
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