Leading & Lagging strand DNA synthesis


    Synthesis on both strands proceeds from Primers oriented in the 5'3' direction. On the Leading Strand (left), this is directed towards the replication fork and proceeds continuously. Synthesis on the Lagging Strand (right) is directed away from the fork, and proceeds discontinuously so as to produce Okazaki Fragments, which are subsequently joined by DNA ligase.


Figure © 2000 by Griffiths et al. ; All text material © 2007 by Steven M. Carr