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Chemistry

DNA Replication Fidelity: Base Pairing and Proofreading

Quick fact

DNA polymerase is so accurate that it introduces an error only about once per 10^5 base pairs, and with proofreading that rate drops to roughly one in 10^7 to 10^9.

Why this is interesting

When a cell copies its DNA, it makes only about one mistake for every ten billion letters copied. How does a molecular machine achieve such precision?