PathwayStep494 PathwayStep505 Lagging Strand Synthesis Due to the antiparallel nature of DNA, DNA polymerization is unidirectional, and one strand is synthesized discontinuously. This strand is called the lagging strand. Although the polymerase switching on the lagging strand is very similar to that on the leading strand, the processive synthesis on the two strands proceeds quite differently. Short DNA fragments, about 100 bases long, called Okazaki fragments are synthesized on the RNA-DNA primers first. Strand-displacement synthesis occurs, whereby the primer-containing 5'-terminus of the adjacent Okazaki fragment is folded into a single-stranded flap structure. This flap structure is removed by endonucleases, and the adjacent Okazaki fragments are joined by DNA ligase. Pubmed9081985 Reactome Database ID Release 4369186 Reactome, http://www.reactome.org ReactomeREACT_312 Polymerase switching Processive synthesis on the lagging strand