The Physics of DNA                             
the basics  -  the physics  -  an intro to replication  -  the physics of replication  -  bibliography



THE PHYSICS OF REPLICATION


The electrostatic forces that form between the bases are formed during replication.
The enzymes that order the replication process actually operate through
electrostatic forces. When the two strands of DNA are unzipped, it leaves
the charged molecules of the base pairs exposed. This allows the new base
pair that will be paired to it's complement to bind to the base through
electrostatic force. The exposed charged molecules also ensure
that the correct base pair is bound, because only complements will
attract each other to their charged molecule. Thus, when DNA
polymerase comes to attach a new nucleotide to the template,
the correct nucleotide is already in the correct place because
it was attracted their by it's complement's charge. These
bonds, however, are very weak, and the complements
must be very close to each other for the electrostatic
force to be created. This means that there are very
few mistakes, because the conditions must be so
specific to the complementary base pairs. The
random motion of the nucleotides in the space
around the template DNA is thus ordered by
physic's electrostatic force.