I used to think that a DNA clamp is a protein. But today I noticed it doesn't appear in this picture. Then I went to it's Wikipedia page, where it was written:
A DNA clamp, also known as a sliding clamp, is a protein fold that serves as a processivity-promoting factor in DNA replication. As a critical component of the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, the clamp protein binds DNA polymerase and prevents this enzyme from dissociating from the template DNA strand. The clamp-polymerase protein–protein interactions are stronger and more specific than the direct interactions between the polymerase and the template DNA strand
Which I find a little confusing. For now it seems to me like DNA clamp is a subunit of DNA Polymerase and it doesn't have any function by itself and it is not an actual protein but it binds to Polymerase and becomes functional. Can somebody please clarify this matter to me?!