Question

Name the source organism of Taq polymerase. Mention the specific role of this enzyme in the polymerase chain reaction.

Answer 1

Taq polymerase is referred to as Taq pol or Taq. It is a thermostable DNA polymerase I. It can replace the DNA polymerase from E. coli.

Complete Answer:
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a widely used method that enables scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to sufficient extent to study it in detail. The reaction is designed to quickly produce millions to billions copies of a particular DNA sample.
- Kary Mullis was the US biochemist at Cetus Corporation who developed the PCR in 1984. The study of ancient DNA samples and the detection of infectious agents are important for many genetic tests.
- In a number of cycles of temperature changes the use of PCR amplifies very small amounts of the DNA sequences exponentially. In clinical laboratory and medical laboratory research, PCR is now a common often essential technique for a wide variety of applications, including forensic criminal science and biomedical research.
- Taq polymerase is a thermostable DNA polymerase I that was originally isolated from Thermusaquaticus in 1976. Taq polymerase is often referred to as Taq pol or Taq.
- Taq polymerase is also employed as a means to amplify the quantity of short segments of DNA in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
- T. Aquaticus is a hot spring and hydrothermal bacterium that was identified with Taq polymerase as an enzyme capability to cope with the (high temperature) protein denaturing conditions required during PCR. The DNA polymerase is replaced by it and from E. coli used in PCR initially.

Note: T. Aquaticus is a bacterium that lives in hydrothermal vents and hot springs. It has established Taq polymerase as a protein denaturation (high temperature) enzyme needed in PCR.