Answer to Question #31744 in Molecular Biology for tharshika

Question

Explain what is meant by semiconservative DNA replication

Answer 1

Semiconservativeis simply a theory put forward to explain DNA replication. Semiconservative replication means that during DNA replication each strand of DNA is used to make a new strand of complementary DNA. So that you end up with 2 new DNA double strands, each one with 1 strand from the initial DNA strand used for replication.The conservative theory, however, states that the entire double helical DNAmolecule produces a replica of itself without unwinding. Recent evidence disapproved this, so we work with the semiconservative theory of DNA replication.