Chapter 18, Problem 4TY

Summary Introduction

Introduction:

Polymerase chain reaction is a molecular biological technique which is used to make several copies of a DNA segment. Normal PCR procedure is achieved through thermal cycling. There are three main steps in PCR. First one is denaturing where the double stranded DNA is separated into two single strands by heating. Second step is annealing in which the DNA primers are attached to the template DNA. This is achieved by lowering the temperature of the reaction mixture. In the third step, extending, temperature is increased again to activate Taq polymerase ( a DNA polymerase) enzyme which catalyzes the binding of deoxynucleoside triphosphates to the primers and elongation of the strand.