What is Taq polymerase and why is it used in PCR?
The DNA polymerase typically used in PCR is called Taq polymerase, after the heat-tolerant bacterium from which it was isolated (Thermus aquaticus). This heat-stability makes Taq polymerase ideal for PCR. As we’ll see, high temperature is used repeatedly in PCR to denature the template DNA, or separate its strands.
What is meant by Taq polymerase?
Definition. Taq polymerase denotes the heat-stable DNA polymerase extracted from the thermophilic bacteria Thermus aquaticus. It is used to automate the repetitive steps in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, an extremely important method of amplifying specific DNA sequences.
What is Taq polymerase and where does it come from?
Taq DNA Polymerase was originally isolated from thermophilic bacterium of the Deinococcus-Thermus group located near the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park by Thomas D. Brock and Hudson Freeze, in 1969. This thriving bacterium was named Thermus aquaticus (T. aquaticus).
What makes Taq polymerase unique?
The unique properties of taq DNA polymerase are that it lacks its 3′ to 5′ exonuclease proofreading activity resulting in relatively low replication fidelity, it makes DNA products that have A (adenine) overhangs at their 3′ ends, this may be useful in TA cloning.
Is Taq polymerase thermostable?
Taq polymerase is a thermostable DNA polymerase I named after the thermophilic eubacterial microorganism Thermus aquaticus, from which it was originally isolated by Chien et al. in 1976. Its name is often abbreviated to Taq or Taq pol.
What important property does Taq polymerase have that makes it useful?
Taq DNA Polymerase is highly efficient, so it becomes fully functional as it reaches its optimum temperature. It also has a half-life of more than two hours (at a temperature of 92 °C), a high-amplification capacity, and the ability to add 150 nucleotides per second.