Taq polymerase

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Structures	Swiss-model
Domains	InterPro

DNA polymerase I, thermostable
DNA polymerase I, thermostable
	Large (Klenow) fragment of Taq polA, containing the polA and vestigial domains
Identifiers
Organism	Thermus aquaticus
Symbol	polA
UniProt	P19821
Structures
Search for
Structures	Swiss-model
Domains	InterPro

Taq polymerase is a thermostable DNA polymerase I named after the thermophilic eubacterial microorganism Thermus aquaticus, from which it was originally isolated by master's student Alice Chien et al. in 1976.^[1] Its name is often abbreviated to Taq or Taq pol. It is frequently used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a method for greatly amplifying the quantity of short segments of DNA.

T. aquaticus is a bacterium that lives in hot springs and hydrothermal vents, and Taq polymerase was identified^[1] as an enzyme able to withstand the protein-denaturing conditions (high temperature) required during PCR.^[2] Therefore, it replaced the DNA polymerase from E. coli originally used in PCR.^[3]

^ ^a ^b Chien A, Edgar DB, Trela JM (September 1976). "Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus". Journal of Bacteriology. 127 (3): 1550–7. doi:10.1128/jb.127.3.1550-1557.1976. PMC 232952. PMID 8432.
^ Saiki RK, Gelfand DH, Stoffel S, Scharf SJ, Higuchi R, Horn GT, et al. (January 1988). "Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase". Science. 239 (4839): 487–91. Bibcode:1988Sci...239..487S. doi:10.1126/science.2448875. PMID 2448875.
^ Saiki RK, Scharf S, Faloona F, Mullis KB, Horn GT, Erlich HA, et al. (December 1985). "Enzymatic amplification of beta-globin genomic sequences and restriction site analysis for diagnosis of sickle cell anemia". Science. 230 (4732): 1350–4. Bibcode:1985Sci...230.1350S. doi:10.1126/science.2999980. PMID 2999980. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19.

[Chien_et_al.-1] Chien A, Edgar DB, Trela JM (September 1976). "Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus". Journal of Bacteriology. 127 (3): 1550–7. doi:10.1128/jb.127.3.1550-1557.1976. PMC 232952. PMID 8432.

[Saiki2-2] Saiki RK, Gelfand DH, Stoffel S, Scharf SJ, Higuchi R, Horn GT, et al. (January 1988). "Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase". Science. 239 (4839): 487–91. Bibcode:1988Sci...239..487S. doi:10.1126/science.2448875. PMID 2448875.

[Saiki1-3] Saiki RK, Scharf S, Faloona F, Mullis KB, Horn GT, Erlich HA, et al. (December 1985). "Enzymatic amplification of beta-globin genomic sequences and restriction site analysis for diagnosis of sickle cell anemia". Science. 230 (4732): 1350–4. Bibcode:1985Sci...230.1350S. doi:10.1126/science.2999980. PMID 2999980. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19.

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