The DNA polymer is an essential figure in the duplication process.
What are DNA polymers?
DNA polymerases are essentially enzymes that birth DNA molecules through the assembly of nucleotides, which are the building blocks of DNA. By working in conjunction with each other, usually in pairs, they have the ability to create two stands of DNA from an original DNA molecule. You can consider it almost like a duplication process. Now, the DNA polymerase’s main task it to identify and read the existing strands in order to create new strands that have the same structure and blueprint of the existing one.
Cell Division
DNA polymers assist during the cell duplication process through the means of being the middle-man throughout the process. Because there needs to be a copy of the original DNA molecule, so it can passed on to the daughter cells, there also needs to be a means of quality control, and the DNA polymer is the most qualified to do so.
Helicases
Now, before replication can actually take place, another enzyme is required to unwind the strands of the DNA. These enzymes are known as helicases, and their primary function is to unzip the double stranded DNA so they can be encoded for duplication. Think of them as a means to create a template for the DNA molecule. For instance, in order to duplicate anything, there must be an original product that it’s based off of. Additionally, whatever’s performing the duplication or DNA synthesis needs to have a blueprint of what it’s going to look like, along with intricate details that allow the process to finish with exquisite precision.
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