What are short fragments that result from the discontinuous synthesis of the lagging strand?

• A. Primer sequences
• B. Telomeres
• C. Okazaki fragments
• D. RNA polymerase

Answer: (C)

Discontinuous synthesis on the lagging strand produces short DNA segments called Okazaki fragments. Because DNA polymerase only adds nucleotides in the 5' to 3' direction, the lagging strand—synthesized opposite the fork—is made in short bursts away from the fork. Each fragment starts with an RNA primer laid down by primase, and DNA polymerase extends from that primer until it reaches the end of the previous fragment. The fragments are later joined by DNA ligase to form a continuous strand. The other options don’t describe these short DNA pieces: primer sequences are the RNA primers themselves, telomeres are chromosome ends, and RNA polymerase makes RNA during transcription.