You have discovered an "Exo-" mutant form of DNA polymerase in which the 3'-to-5' exonuclease function has been destroyed but the ability to join nucleotides together is unchanged. Which of the following properties do you expect the mutant polymerase to have?
(a) It will polymerize in both the 5'-to-3' direction and the 3'-to-5' direction.
(b) It will polymerize more slowly than the normal Exo+ polymerase.
(c) It will fall off the template more frequently than the normal Exo+ polymerase.
(d) It will be more likely to generate mismatched base pairs.
Answer: D