Biotechnology Part 1 Flashcards
what does DNA amplification do? Why?
it create millions of copies of a specific DNA sequence to increase the amount of DNA
what are the materials in PCR?
- DNA template
- nucleotides
- DNAP (Taq polymerase)
- DNA primers
what are the 3 steps of the PCR cycle?
- Denaturation
- Annealing
- Extension
what is denaturation in the PCR cycle
temperature is increased to separate DNA strands
what is the annealing in the PCR cycle
temperature is decreased to allow primers to base pair to complementary DNA template
what is the extension in the PCR cycle
plymerase extends primer to form nascent DNA strand
describe a primer in the PCR cycle?
- a synthetic sequence (artificial)
- single stranded DNA
- provides the 3’ OH for polymerization
- 2 primers used for complementary to each end of the target region of the DNA
- defines length of target DNA to be replicated
Why is Taq used in the PCR cycle?
the temp of the PCR denatures the enzymes meaning they don’t work so something else must be used
what was done before Taq was used?
- 3 water baths at 3 temperatures with a re-addition of DNAP at the beginning of each synthesis step
- tedious and time consumming as it had to be done manually all day
describe the thermal cycler
has a plate that heats and cools in a process that takes 1-2 hours
what is used for unwinding compare natural DNA replication and PCR replication.
natural: Ori on DNA template + helicase
PCR: template + heat
what is used for priming? compare natural DNA replication and PCR replication.
natural: RNA primer + primase
PCR: DNA primers x2 + annealing
what is used for elongation? compare natural DNA replication and PCR replication.
natural: nucleotides + DNAP
PCR: nucleotides + Taq polymerase
what is used for termination? compare natural DNA replication and PCR replication.
natural: end of chromosome OR meets another replication bubble
PCR: end of DNA template or a change in temp
at which cycle do you get the correctly sized target sequence?
2 round of replication
what does endonuclease do?
breaks phosphodiester bonds within a nucleotide chain
what is a restriction enzyme?
a biological ‘scissor’
what is the function of a restriction enzyme
acts like the immune system of bacteria to protect it against DNA from other organisms
what does a restriction enzyme do in bacteria?
recognizes short nucleotide sequences in the foreign DNA - cuts cvalent phosphodiester bonds of both strands of DNA rendering foreign DNA harmless
restriction site
sequene recognized and cut by restriction enzyme
what does palindromic mean in bio?
same sequence on complementary strand in opposite orientation