Definition
The mechanism in which DNA is replicated in cells. It results in DNA with one original strand of DNA and one new strand of DNA.
Use in clinical context
When DNA is replicated, the double helix unzips the two strands of DNA and, with the aid of an enzyme called DNA polymerase, a new strand is constructed using each of the existing strands as a template. This results in two new DNA molecules, each containing one original strand of DNA and one new one. The principles of this process are recreated artificially in many molecular techniques such as PCR and some methods of DNA sequencing.
