DNA polymerases are involved in all DNA synthesis that occurs in nature. Furthermore, DNA polymerases are the workhorses in numerous important molecular biological core technologies like the widely applied polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cDNA cloning, genome sequencing, and diagnostics based on nucleic acids. In each of these processes the DNA polymerase requires a DNA strand as a template for...

The DNA polymerases from Thermus aquaticus and Thermus flavus were recently found to bind to short double-stranded DNA fragments without sequence specificity [Kainz et al. (2000) Biotechniques 28, 278-82]. In the present study, it is shown that the accumulation of amplification products during later PCR cycles also exerts an inhibitory effect on several enzymes tested. To simulate later cycle c...

Modified nucleosides have the potential to inhibit DNA polymerases for the treatment of viral infections and cancer. With the hope of developing potent drug candidates by the modification of the 2',4'-position of the ribose with the inclusion of a bridge, efforts were focused on the inhibition of Taq DNA polymerase using quantitative real time PCR, and the results revealed the significant inhib...

Thermal denaturations of the type 1 DNA polymerases from Thermus aquaticus (Taq polymerase) and Escherichia coli (Pol 1) have been examined using differential scanning calorimetry and CD spectroscopy. The full-length proteins are single-polypeptide chains comprising a polymerase domain, a proofreading domain (inactive in Taq) and a 5' nuclease domain. Removal of the 5' nuclease domains produces...