What is a Helicase?

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Multiple Choice

What is a Helicase?

Explanation:
Helicase is the enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix at the replication fork, using energy from ATP to break the hydrogen bonds between base pairs and separate the two strands. This unwinding creates the replication fork and provides single-stranded templates for DNA polymerases to copy. It’s not involved in sealing DNA ends after replication (that’s ligase), nor in forming the sugar–phosphate backbone during synthesis (that’s done by DNA polymerase), and it isn’t an RNA primer (that short RNA segment is laid down by primase).

Helicase is the enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix at the replication fork, using energy from ATP to break the hydrogen bonds between base pairs and separate the two strands. This unwinding creates the replication fork and provides single-stranded templates for DNA polymerases to copy. It’s not involved in sealing DNA ends after replication (that’s ligase), nor in forming the sugar–phosphate backbone during synthesis (that’s done by DNA polymerase), and it isn’t an RNA primer (that short RNA segment is laid down by primase).

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