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Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 125–127 (1 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/nsmb0208-125

Understanding how the replisome works

Kenneth J Marians

Three enzymatic activities are required to replicate chromosomal DNA: synthesis of the nascent DNA by DNA polymerases, unwinding of the parental duplex DNA by a DNA helicase and priming of the Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand by a DNA primase. In bacteria, these enzymes associate physically to form a replisome, a protein machine that faithfully replicates millions of nucleotides of DNA incredibly quickly.