Replication of DNA by Complementary Base Pairing

As the DNA strands unwind and separate, new complementary strands are produced by the hydrogen bonding of free DNA nucleotides with those on each parent strand. As the new nucleotides line up opposite each parent strand by hydrogen bonding, enzymes called DNA polymerases join the nucleotides by way of phosphodiester bonds. The DNA polymerase responsible for these events is not shown here.


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Updated: May 27, 2001