BIOLOGY 1A03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Thermus Aquaticus, Dna Replication, Electrophoresis

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOLOGY 1A03
• Professor: Alastair Tracey Rosa Da Silva

Document Summary

Biology 1a03; textbook notes (applications of dna replication) Watson and crick"s discovery of the structure of dna and knowledge of the mechanism of replication allowed biologists not only to understand some of life"s central processes, but also to create tools to study how life works. Biologists often need to isolate, identify, and determine the nucleotide sequence of particular dna fragments. Many of the experimental procedures for the isolation, identification, and sequencing of dna are based on knowledge of dna structure and physical properties of dna. Others make use of the principles of dna replication. In this section, we discuss how particular fragments of double-stranded dna can be produced, how dna fragments of different sizes can be physically separated, and how the nucleotide sequence of a piece of dna can be determined. The polymerase chain reaction selectively amplifies regions of dna.