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DNA primase is an enzyme involved in the replication of DNA and is a type of RNA polymerase. Primase catalyzes the synthesis of a short RNA (or DNA in some living organisms [ 1 ] ) segment called a primer complementary to a ssDNA (single-stranded DNA) template.
DNA polymerase alpha, like DNA primase, contains iron-sulfur clusters, that are critical in electron transport that uses DNA itself to transfer electrons at very high speeds; this process is involved in detecting DNA damage, and may also be involved in a feedback between the primase complex and the DNA polymerase alpha.
A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create two identical DNA duplexes from a single original DNA duplex.
Unlike in the leading strand, this method results in the repeated starting and stopping of DNA synthesis, requiring multiple RNA primers. Along the DNA template, primase intersperses RNA primers that DNA polymerase uses to synthesize DNA from in the 5′→3′ direction. [1]
All cellular life forms and many DNA viruses, phages and plasmids use a primase to synthesize a short RNA primer with a free 3′ OH group which is subsequently elongated by a DNA polymerase. The retroelements (including retroviruses ) employ a transfer RNA that primes DNA replication by providing a free 3′ OH that is used for elongation by ...
DNA polymerase α (Pol α) Contains primase activity that is necessary to initiate DNA synthesis on both leading and lagging strands. DNA polymerase δ (Pol δ) Required to complete synthesis of Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand that have been started by DNA polymerase α. DNA polymerase ε (Pol ε) The leading strand polymerase.
The Pol α complex (pol α-DNA primase complex) consists of four subunits: the catalytic subunit POLA1, the regulatory subunit POLA2, and the small and the large primase subunits PRIM1 and PRIM2 respectively. Once primase has created the RNA primer, Pol α starts replication elongating the primer with ~20 nucleotides.
In eukaryotes, DNA polymerase alpha creates an RNA primer at the beginning of the newly separated leading and lagging strands, and, unlike primase, DNA polymerase alpha also synthesizes a short chain of deoxynucleotides after creating the primer.