LABORATORY REVIEW
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Identify the DNA of a person at a crime scene
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Remove a portion of a DNA sample for testing
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Initiate transcription in a cell
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Produce multiple copies of a segment of DNA in laboratory conditions
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Detailed explanation-1: -Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is a technique to make many copies of a specific DNA region in vitro (in a test tube rather than an organism). PCR relies on a thermostable DNA polymerase, Taq polymerase, and requires DNA primers designed specifically for the DNA region of interest.
Detailed explanation-2: -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.
Detailed explanation-3: -Due to its key role in synthesizing and amplifying new strands of DNA, Taq DNA Polymerase is essential to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Like other DNA polymerases, Taq Polymerase can only produce DNA if it has a primer, a short sequence of 20 nucleotides that provide a starting point for DNA synthesis.
Detailed explanation-4: -T. aquaticus is a bacterium that lives in hot springs and hydrothermal vents, and Taq polymerase was identified as an enzyme able to withstand the protein-denaturing conditions (high temperature) required during PCR. Therefore, it replaced the DNA polymerase from E. coli originally used in PCR.