Editing Processivity (section)

{{Refimprove|date=February 2009}}

In [[molecular biology]] and [[biochemistry]], '''processivity''' is an [[enzyme]]'s ability to [[catalyze]] "consecutive reactions without releasing its [[enzyme substrate (biology)|substrate]]".<ref>{{stryer}}. §[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22587/#A3803 27.4.4]</ref>

For example, processivity is the average number of [[nucleotide]]s added by a [[polymerase]] [[enzyme]], such as [[DNA polymerase]], per association event with the template strand. Because the binding of the polymerase to the template is the rate-limiting step in [[DNA synthesis]]{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}}, the overall rate of [[DNA]] replication during [[S phase]] of the [[cell cycle]] is dependent on the processivity of the DNA polymerases performing the replication. [[DNA clamp]] proteins are integral components of the DNA replication machinery and serve to increase the processivity of their associated polymerases. Some polymerases add over 50,000 nucleotides to a growing DNA strand before dissociating from the template strand, giving a replication rate of up to 1,000 nucleotides per second.