The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Replisome refers to a complex of proteins that are engaged in the elongation of the newly synthesized strand of deoxyribonucleic acid. The replisome assembles at the replication fork, the region where the new DNA stand is being made.
The replisome complex assumes three principle functions, DNA polymerase, DNA primase and DNA helicase. The helicase, a donut-shaped enzyme, initiates replication by unwinding the two parental DNA strands. The structure of the helicase was elucidated in 1999 using the technique of x-ray crystallography. It has been determined that the helicase moves along the DNA strand very quickly, 300 paired nucleotides per second. Once the DNA strands are unwound, single stranded DNA binding proteins attach to each unwound strand, preventing the strands from winding back together. Subsequently, DNA polymerase catalyzes the elongation of each strand. The polymerase is able to operate in a continuous fashion on the leading parental strand that is unwinding. On the other strand, the DNA primase molecule builds primers, which are eventually connected to the other replicated DNA strand.