BIOLOGY 1A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Agarose Gel Electrophoresis, Sanger Sequencing, Frederick Sanger
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BIOLOGY 1A03 Full Course Notes
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The polymerase chain reaction (pcr) is a technique that allows scientists to copy/amplify millions of copies of dna from very small starting samples (replication in a tube). This process has produced large amounts of dna from a fossil containing trace amounts of dna, it has linked specific individuals to dna samples during forensic investigations, been used for detection of viral dna in cells, etc. An example of a dna polymerase that is used is taq polymerase from the thermus aquaticus which are adapted to live in hot springs with temperatures as high as 95 degrees. The three stages are: denaturation, annealing, and extension. The pcr process brings about a chain reaction that produces an exponentially growing population of identical dna molecules. The double helix is unwound using a high temperature stage of the thermocycler. The reaction mixture is heated to denature (separate) the strands of the double helix.
