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A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create two identical DNA duplexes from a single original DNA duplex.
DNA polymerase I (or Pol I) is an enzyme that participates in the process of prokaryotic DNA replication. Discovered by Arthur Kornberg in 1956, [1] it was the first known DNA polymerase (and the first known of any kind of polymerase). It was initially characterized in E. coli and is ubiquitous in prokaryotes.
DNA polymerase III will then synthesize a continuous or discontinuous strand of DNA, depending if this is occurring on the leading or lagging strand (Okazaki fragment) of the DNA. DNA polymerase III has a high processivity and therefore, synthesizes DNA very quickly. This high processivity is due in part to the β-clamps that "hold" onto the ...
Several DNA polymerases have been described with distinct properties that define their specific utilisation in a PCR, in real-time PCR or in an isothermal amplification. Being DNA polymerases, the thermostable DNA polymerases all have a 5'→3' polymerase activity, and either a 5'→3' or a 3'→5' exonuclease activity.
The polymerase is a monomeric protein with two distinct functional domains. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments support the proposition that this protein displays a structural and functional similarity to the Klenow fragment of the Escherichia coli Polymerase I enzyme; [3] it comprises a C-terminal polymerase domain and a spatially separated N-terminal domain with a 3'-5' exonuclease activity.
The interactions between the polymerase and the clamp are more persistent than those between the polymerase and the DNA. Thus, when the polymerase dissociates from the DNA, it is still bound to the clamp and can rapidly reassociate with the DNA. An example of such a DNA clamp is PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen) found in S. cervesiae.
A polymerase chain reaction is a form of enzymatic DNA synthesis in the laboratory, using cycles of repeated heating and cooling of the reaction for DNA melting and enzymatic replication of the DNA. DNA synthesis during PCR is very similar to living cells but has very specific reagents and conditions.
This leads to an issue due to the fact that DNA polymerase is only able to add to the 3' end of the DNA strand. The 3'-5' action of DNA polymerase along the parent strand leaves a short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) region at the 3' end of the parent strand when the Okazaki fragments have been repaired.