E. coli DNA polymerase III is both highly accurate and highly processive. a) Describe how Pol III avoids the incorporation of improperly paired bases. b) Describe how Pol III avoids incorporating ribonucleotides.

Answer/Explanation:

DNA polymerase is the enzyme responsible for replicating DNA. It is hugely important that is performs its functions accurately, as if incorrect bases are incorporated this can lead to mutations that disrupt the structure and function of genes. It adds nucleotides in a 5' - 3' direction only.

DNA polymerase III also has high processivity, which means that for every time it binds DNA, it is able to add many bases before it becomes dissociated.

A. DNA polymerase avoids the incorporation of improperly paired nucleotides in two ways:

B. Ribonucleotides are the nucleotides that are incorporated into a growing RNA molecule. They are different from deoxyribonucleotides because of the differences in the sugar backbone (ribose vs deoxyribose). Their incorporation would disrupt the structure and function of the DNA, leading to problems with transcription and replication.

DNA polymerase avoids incorporating these nucleotides primarily because of the structure of the enzyme. Ribonucleotides cannot fit into the active site of DNA polymerase due to what is called a "steric filter" or "steric gate". This gate/filter function is performed by specific amino acid residues which usually have a bulky side chain and thus block the incorporation of the 2'OH of the ribose sugar (which is lacking in the deoxyribose sugar)

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