In this video, we're going to briefly introduce some of the most important components of DNA replication. It turns out that DNA replication is actually a relatively complex process that requires a host of multiple enzymes and proteins working together. Notice below we have a table that shows some of the most important enzymes and proteins involved in DNA replication along with their functions. It's important to note that in this video, we're only going to briefly introduce these enzymes and proteins and their functions. But as we move forward in our course, in their own separate videos, we're going to talk about each of these enzymes and proteins in more detail along with the details of their functions. Keep in mind that this is just a brief introduction and you can use this table below as a reference moving forward as we cover these different enzymes and proteins in more detail. In this column, what we're going to show you is the shape we're going to use here at Clutch Prep to represent each of the individual enzymes and proteins. Of course, we have the name of the enzyme and protein in this column and then we have the function of the enzyme or protein in this column here. The first enzyme we're showing you here is topoisomerase, which is also sometimes referred to as DNA Gyrase in prokaryotes. You may see your textbooks or your professor refer to it as that. Its function is to relieve DNA supercoiling ahead of the replication fork. We'll talk more about what DNA supercoiling is and the function of topoisomerase and DNA gyrase in their own separate video as we move forward. That also goes for all of these enzymes and proteins.
The next enzyme that we're showing you is represented with this yellow triangle here at Clutch Prep, and it is a helicase. The function of helicases is to unwind the DNA double helix at the replication fork. Next, what we have are these little orange circles and these represent our single-stranded binding proteins. As their name implies, these single-stranded binding proteins are going to bind to and stabilize single-stranded DNA. Next, what we have is this pink structure, which is going to be the primase. As the name implies, primase is going to create RNA primers, which act as a starting point for DNA synthesis.
Next, we have this light blue circle here, which represents DNA Polymerase III in prokaryotic organisms. This is the main DNA polymerase that's responsible for building a new strand of DNA using the old strand of DNA as a template. There are multiple DNA polymerases, and this DNA polymerase is, going to be DNA Polymerase I in prokaryotes, and its job is to replace RNA primers with DNA. Notice that DNA Polymerase II is not mentioned here on this list, and that's because DNA Polymerase II is not one of the most important components of DNA replication and has a slightly different function that we're not really going to cover in this course.
The last protein, the last component that is very important for DNA replication, is going to be DNA Ligase. Its function is to covalently join together what are known as Okazaki fragments in the lagging DNA strand. This will make a lot more sense, these functions, and these enzymes and proteins will be cleared up as we move forward and talk about them in more detail in their own separate videos. This here concludes our brief introduction to some of the most important components of DNA replication that we're going to encounter moving forward. We'll be able to talk more about these as we move forward in our course. So I'll see you all in our next video.