Encyclopedia > Polymerase

Article Content

Polymerase

Polymerase is an enzyme catalyzing the polymerization of nucleic acids.

It is an accident of history that the enzymes and organelles responsible for the catalytic production of other biopolymers are not also referred to as polymerases.

One particular polymerase, that from the thermophilic archae, Thermus aquaticus[?] (Taq, pronounce "tack") (PDB 1BGX (http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/cgi/explore.cgi?pid=288631034363198&pdbId=1BGX), EC 2.7.7.7) is of vital commercial importance due to its use in the polymerase chain reaction, a widely used technique of molecular biology.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Father Damien

... After twelve years of ministering to the patients at the leper colony (see Kalawao County, Hawaii), he contracted the disease, from which he died at the colony. He is ...