True or False: In the lagging strand, the enzyme DNA polymerase III that produces the next Okazaki fragment also removes the short segment of primer RNA on the previous Okazaki fragment.

This statement is False.

In the process of DNA replication, particularly on the lagging strand, DNA polymerase III synthesizes new DNA by adding nucleotides to the growing strand in short segments known as Okazaki fragments. However, the removal of the RNA primer that begins each Okazaki fragment is not performed by DNA polymerase III.

Instead, another enzyme called DNA polymerase I is responsible for this task. DNA polymerase I has exonuclease activity, which allows it to remove the RNA primers. After the primers are removed, DNA polymerase I then fills in the gaps with DNA nucleotides. Eventually, the fragments are joined together by an enzyme called DNA ligase, which seals the sugar-phosphate backbone of the newly synthesized DNA. Thus, DNA polymerase III only synthesizes DNA, while DNA polymerase I takes care of removing RNA primers.