Polynucleotide

Polynucleotides are polymers of nucleotides. They are paired together to form double-stranded DNA. They are different from most other polymers in that they are copied directly, by the process of semi-conservative replication - one polynucleotide becomes the template for another.

In DNA, polynucleotides form very long chains of nucleotides and are effective in passing large amounts of information down from one generation to the next. Catalytic enzymes are used in the process of copying polynucleotides. They speed the process up and reduce the number of errors that might occur .