The Polymerase Chain Reaction is a molecular biology tool for exponentially amplifying DNA in a test tube in a cell free system. With this technique, DNA strands are separated by heating the mixture so that a DNA helicase is not required. A heat stable polymerase (Pol Z) is then used to copy DNA over and over in a tube. Recently an improved version of Pol Z was created by fusing Protein X, a DNA binding protein, to Pol Z (see left figure below). The right panel shows that fusion of Pol Z to Protein X significantly increases its efficiency. Briefly provide a plausible mechanism for how Protein X is improving Pol Z. Which prokarotic/eukaryotic protein activity is Protein X mimicking that increases the activity of the polymerase?
Gene Interactions
When the expression of a single trait is influenced by two or more different non-allelic genes, it is termed as genetic interaction. According to Mendel's law of inheritance, each gene functions in its own way and does not depend on the function of another gene, i.e., a single gene controls each of seven characteristics considered, but the complex contribution of many different genes determine many traits of an organism.
Gene Expression
Gene expression is a process by which the instructions present in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are converted into useful molecules such as proteins, and functional messenger ribonucleic (mRNA) molecules in the case of non-protein-coding genes.
The Polymerase Chain Reaction is a molecular biology tool for exponentially amplifying DNA in a test tube in a cell free system. With this technique, DNA strands are separated by heating the mixture so that a DNA helicase is not required. A heat stable polymerase (Pol Z) is then used to copy DNA over and over in a tube. Recently an improved version of Pol Z was created by fusing Protein X, a DNA binding protein, to Pol Z (see left figure below). The right panel shows that fusion of Pol Z to Protein X significantly increases its efficiency. Briefly provide a plausible mechanism for how Protein X is improving Pol Z. Which prokarotic/eukaryotic protein activity is Protein X mimicking that increases the activity of the polymerase?
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