About this 3D model

The fact is that DNA polymerases are not very processive. They tend to fall off of DNA rather quickly, and because of that they are pretty slow. How to increase the speed and fidelity of a polymerase? You shackle it to the DNA molecule it's replicating, using this. This is a complex which attaches a sliding clamp around a DNA molecule. Polymerase then sticks to the end of the sliding clamp, and as a result gets stuck fast to the DNA it's replicating, increasing its processivity from 10 base pairs to 80,000. This is a closed clamp, pdb ID 3u5z.