Which of the Following is Formed on the Lagging Strand

Question

Which of the following is formed on the lagging strand during DNA synthesis?
A) DNA secondary structures
B) Okazaki fragments
C) RNA polymerase
D) replisomes

Accepted Answer

Okazaki fragments are short, discontinuous segments of DNA synthesized on the lagging strand during DNA replication. The lagging strand is synthesized in short pieces because DNA polymerase can only add new nucleotides in the 5' to 3' direction, and the template strand for the lagging strand is oriented in the opposite, or 3' to 5', direction. The fragments are later joined together by DNA ligase to form a continuous strand. A is incorrect because DNA secondary structures refer to structures such as hairpins or stem-loops that can form in single-stranded DNA or RNA. C is incorrect because RNA polymerase is an enzyme that synthesizes RNA, not DNA. D is incorrect because the replisome is a complex of enzymes and other proteins that carry out DNA replication, and is involved in synthesizing both the leading and lagging strands.