| Term | Definition |
| helicase | unwinds DNA template at replication fork |
| single-stranded binding proteins | prevents strands from reannealing |
| DNA topoisomerases | create a nick in the helix to relieve supercoils created during replication |
| primase | makes an RNA primer on which DNA pol III can initiate replication |
| DNA polymerase III | (prokaryotic only) elongates leading strands by adding deoxynucleotides to the 3' end; elongates lagging strand until it reaches primer of preceding fragment |
| DNA polymerase I | (prokaryotic only) degrades RNA primer and fills in the gap with DNA |
| DNA ligase | seals strands |