DNA Polymerase

The enzymes responsible for DNA* replication. There are different DNA polymerases. Each has slightly different activities. DNA replication in prokaryotes requires DNA polymerase III and DNA polymerase I. DNA polymerases do not create new polymers from scratch.  They only add new nucleotides* to an existing strand using its a complementary strand as a template.

The fact that DNA polymerases can only extend existing DNA polymers using a complementary strand as a template is why DNA synthesis requires short priming sequences.