Polymerase

Structure of Taq DNA polymerase

A polymerase is an enzyme (EC 2.7.7.6/7/19/48/49) that synthesizes long chains or polymers of nucleic acids. DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase are used to assemble DNA and RNA molecules, respectively, by copying a DNA or RNA template strand using base-pairing interactions.

A polymerase from the thermophilic bacterium, Thermus aquaticus (Taq) (PDB 1BGX, EC 2.7.7.7) is used in the polymerase chain reaction, an important technique of molecular biology.

Other well-known polymerases include:

See also

References

  1. "Structural Basis for a New Templated Activity by Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase: Implications for V(D)J Recombination". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
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