Chapter 12, Problem 13P

Answer the following questions concerning the accuracy of DNA polymerase during replication.

What general mechanism do DNA polymerases use to check the accuracy of DNA replication and identify errors during replication?

If a DNA replication error is detected by DNA polymerase, how is it corrected?

If a replication error escapes detection and correction, what kind of abnormality is most likely to exist at the site of replication error?

Identify two mechanisms that can correct the kind of abnormality resulting from the circumstances identified in part (c).

If the kind of abnormality identified in part (c) is not corrected before the next DNA replication cycle, what kind of mutation occurs?

DNA mismatch repair can accurately distinguish between the template strand and the newly replicated strand of a DNA duplex. What characteristic of DNA strands is used to make this distinction?