Question

Why is the pairing of nitrogen bases key to understanding how DNA replication occurs?

Answer 1

The DNA replication occurs by preparing a new strand of DNA that is based on the template strand only. So understanding the nitrogen base pairing is very essential for understanding DNA replication.

Explanation:

DNA replication occurs prior to any type of cell division in all organisms. In case of humans, the DNA that is to be replicated needs to be de winded by means of decondensation of chromosomes into chromatin fibres and then to DNA fibres. Then there are enzymes like helicase and gyrase which helps in breaking the hydrogen bonds between two strands of DNA and to open it up for enzymes to get attached.

Then the enzyme DNA dependent DNA polymerase works on both the strands of DNA where it reads the mother DNA strand as a template and then brings deoxyribonucleotides complementary to the template strand and then polymerises it with the previous nucleotide to form a new DNA strand. Thus two DNA strands are produced which are again complementary to each other, leading to the production of a new daughter DNA. So, understanding the complementary base pairing is very essential to understand the DNA replication.