Question

The pcr (polymerase chain reaction) protocol that is currently used in laboratories was facilitated by the discovery of a bacterium called thermus aquaticus in a hot spring inside yellowstone national park, wyoming. this organism contains a heat-stable form of dna polymerase known as taq polymerase, which continues to function even after it has been heated to 95 degrees

c. why would such a heat-stable polymerase be beneficial in pcr?

Answer 1

PCR is a process which requires the mixture of targeted genes, free nucleotides, taq polymerase, and DNA primers, to be heated up to 95°C in the process of denaturation (the splitting of double-stranded DNA into single-stranded DNA). The mixture will then have to be cooled to 54°C for annealing to occur (where DNA primer attaches to DNA by complimentary base pairing at the 3' end flanking the target sequence of DNA/gene). Then, the mixture will have to be heated up again to 72°C for extension of new DNA which is synthesized based on complimentary base pairing (A-T, C-G) by taq polymerase.
This process must be repeated many times. Thus, it is good that taq polymerase can withstand such temperature changes, especially to 95°C and above, so that it is not necessary for scientists to continually replace the denatured polymerase after every round of PCR if the polymerase is not heat-stable.

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