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  Home >> Molecular Biology Dictionary >> DNA Hybridization - DNA Primase


DNA hybridization
The pairing of two DNA molecules, often from different sources, by hydrogen bonding between complementary nucleotides. This technique is frequently used to detect the presence of a specific nucleotide sequence in a DNA sample
DNA ligase
An enzyme that catalyses a reaction that links two DNA molecules via the formation of a phospho-diester bond between the 3' hydroxyl and 5' phosphate of adjacent nucleotides. It plays an important role in DNA. repair and replication. DNA ligase is one of the essential tools of recombinant DNA technology, enabling (among other thing ) the incorporation of foreign DNA into vectors.

The ligase enzyme encoded by phage T4 is commonly used in gene-cloning experiments. It requires A TP as a co-factor. T4 is used in vitro to join the vector and insert DNAs .

DNA micro-array
A small glass surface to which has been fixed an array of DNA fragments, each with a defined location. A typical DNA chip would contain 10 000 discrete spots (each containing a different DNA fragment) in an area of just a few square centimetres. When a solution of fluorescently labelled DNA fragments is hybridized to the chip, spots to which hybridization occurs are visible as fluorescence. If the spots on the chip are genes (expressed sequence tags, q. v.), hybridization with DNA from a particular tissue shows which genes are expressed in that tissue.

If the spots are short, synthesized oligonucleotides (approximately 25 bases) corresponding to that part of a gene containing a single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)(q.v.), with a separate spot for each of the 4 possible bases at that site, hybridization with genomic DNA from an individual plant or animal enables that individual to be genotyped at as many SNP loci as are represented on 'the chip.

The big advantage of DNA chips is the extent to which the process of genotyping can be automated, thereby enabling huge numbers of plants or animals to be genotyped for a huge number of loci.

DNA polymerase
An enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of double-stranded DNA, using single-stranded DNA as a template. See polymerase.

DNA polymorphism
The existence of two or more alternative forms (alleles) of a chromosomal locus that differ in nucleotide sequence or have variable numbers of repeated nucleotide units. See allele

DNA primase
An enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of short strands of RNA that initiate the synthesis of DNA strands.

 

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