Which molecule is responsible for correcting errors in DNA replication?

DNA polymerase is a crucial enzyme involved in DNA replication and is primarily responsible for synthesizing new strands of DNA by adding nucleotides to a growing chain. One of its important functions is proofreading newly synthesized DNA to ensure accuracy. During this proofreading process, if DNA polymerase detects a mismatch or error in the nucleotide sequence, it has the capability to remove the incorrect nucleotide and replace it with the correct one. This activity significantly reduces the mutation rate during DNA replication, thus maintaining genetic fidelity.

Other enzymes mentioned play different roles in DNA processes: RNA polymerase is involved in synthesizing RNA from a DNA template, DNA ligase is responsible for sealing nicks and joining Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand during replication, and helicase unwinds the DNA double helix prior to replication. However, none of these enzymes have the proofreading capabilities that are specifically characteristic of DNA polymerase.