Process
Base pairing
In DNA, A pairs with T and G pairs with C (RNA uses U instead of T). The matching lets each strand act as a template for the other.
DNA replication
Copying DNA before a cell divides. Each new double helix keeps one original strand and gains one new strand.Source: Meselson & Stahl, 1958Source: OpenStax, 2018
Also called semiconservative replication.
Process
How DNA replication connects
DNA replication involves
DNA replication uses
Level of life
DNA
The molecule that stores the genetic instructions of all cellular life: two strands wound into a double helix and held together by base pairs.
DNA replication is used by
Technology or method
PCR
The polymerase chain reaction copies a chosen stretch of DNA millions to billions of times.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
The replication of DNA in Escherichia coli (opens the original in a new tab)
Meselson M, Stahl FW (1958). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 44:671-682.
Showed that DNA replication is semiconservative.
Historical paperPrimary researchBiology 2e (opens the original in a new tab)
OpenStax (2018). OpenStax, Rice University.
Free introductory college textbook.
TextbookEducationalLicence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (linked, not reused)