DNA Primase

Organisms called Archaea were discovered in fossils dating, according to accepted radiometric methods, from about 3.5 billion years ago (bya), with certain of their chemical products in rocks even older. I've shown some of the molecules from the first of bacteria, found in fossils from 2 bya, Cyanobacteria (and will show one of Archaea soon). Another molecule to add to the Cyanobacteria list is "DNA primase" which you can read about in the link to Wikipedia HERE. The primase helps the helicase make the DNA ready for replication. A picture of one is here.


The image was accessed from the Internet in August 2008. This protien molecule has 646 amino acids as reported by Uniprot Q2JLC5. This is a different protein than the helicase and topoisomerase which also are needed to replicate DNA. The molecules are each shaped uniquely to give them the ability to do specific jobs, just like a toaster and coffee-maker are shaped differently, with different shapes and arrangements of parts.

2019 Update: Unfortunately this image is no longer accessible at Swiss Model Repository under the given code of Q2JLC5 but I'm glad I could get it when I did under the address shown in the image.