Question
Errors in transcription occur about 100,000 times as often as errors in DNA replication. Why can this high rate be tolerated in RNA synthesis but not in DNA synthesis?
Step 1
DNA is the blueprint of life, it contains the instructions for making all the proteins in a cell. RNA, on the other hand, is a copy of a segment of DNA that is used to make proteins. Show more…
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Why are DNA replication errors are more severe than those in the transcription of RNA.
Chapters 6 and 7 explained that mistakes made by DNA polymerase are corrected either by proofreading mechanisms during DNA replication or by DNA repair systems that operate after replication is complete. The overall rate of errors in DNA replication is about $1 \times 10^{-10},$ that is, one error in 10 million base pairs. RNA polymerase also has some proofreading capability, but the overall error rate for transcription is significantly higher $\left(1 \times 10^{-4},$ or one error in each \right. $10,000 \text { nucleotides }) .$ Why can organisms tolerate higher error rates for transcription than for DNA replication?
Why don't errors in transcription and translation matter as much as errors in replication?
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