Every cell has to contain the precious book of life, the DNA. To make this possible, a complex machinery, like a copying machine, copies the cells DNA before it divides. That way each daughter cell receives an exact copy of the dividing cell's DNA. This doubling of DNA is called replication.
schematic illustration»
In addition to this "copying machine" cells have evolved mechanisms to correct mistakes that sometimes occur during DNA replication, a DNA repair system. Abnormalities in these processes, copying and repairing, result in a failure of accurate replication and maintenance of DNA - a failure that can have disastrous consequences, such as the development of cancer.
Thus replication constitutes the fundamental condition for biological growth (cell division) and transmission of genetic information, DNA, from one generation to another (reproduction).
DNA Replication
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