What is RNA primase?

RNA primase is a type of enzyme that synthesizes primer for replication to start.

Primase is an enzyme that synthesizes short RNA sequences known as primers. The primers that are synthesized are complementary to a single-stranded piece of DNA and serve as its template. It is crucial for primase to synthesize primers before DNA replication can occur. This is because DNA polymerases are unable to initiate polymer synthesis on single stranded DNA templates. They can only elongate from the 3′-hydroxyl of a primer. Hence the primers serve as a starting point for DNA synthesis.