Exemplar Problems

Question:

Depending upon the chemical nature of the template (DNA or RNA) and the nature of nucleic acids synthesized from it (DNA or RNA), list the types of nucleic acid polymerases.

Answer:

DNA-dependent DNA polymerase: Synthesizes DNA from a DNA template during DNA replication.

RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (Reverse Transcriptase): Synthesizes DNA from an RNA template in reverse transcription.

DNA-dependent RNA polymerase: Synthesizes RNA from a DNA template during transcription.

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase: Synthesizes RNA from an RNA template in some viral replication processes.