Question

You add the following components (in the correct volumes and concentrations) to a tube to perform a PCR reaction Buffer Magnesium chloride Forward and reverse primers DNA polymerase (e.g.,Taq) Template DNA PCR-grade water True or false: These components are sufficient to successfully carry out a PCR reaction. a. True b. False

Answer 1

Answer:

b. False

Explanation:

These components are not sufficient to successfully perform a PCR reaction. Deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dATP, dGTP, dCTP, dTTP) are missing so that the PCR reaction can occur perfectly.

The PCR technique allows a specific fragment of the DNA molecule to be amplified thousands of times in just a few hours. This technique revolutionized research in molecular biology because it had taken a long time for DNA amplification. From PCR it is possible to obtain enough copies of a part of DNA to detect and analyze the sequence that is the target of the study.

For a PCR reaction to be performed a solution with some components must be prepared. These components are:

• Magnesium chloride buffer (to optimize reaction and act as a cofactor for polymerase)
• Forward and reverse primers (to customize the start of the enzyme reaction)
• DNA polymerase (Enzyme required for replication of desired DNA region.)
• DNA Template (the DNA to be copied)
• PCR-grade water
• Deoxynucleoside triphosphates: dATP, dGTP, dCTP, dTTP (act as bricks in the construction of DNA molecules).