DNA polymerases and biotechnological applications

Abstract

A multitude of biotechnological techniques used in basic research as well as in clinical diagnostics on an everyday basis depend on DNA polymerases and their intrinsic capability to replicate DNA strands with astoundingly high fidelity. Applications with fundamental importance to modern molecular biology, including the polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing, would not be feasible without the advances made in characterizing these enzymes over the course of the last 60 years. Nonetheless, the still growing application scope of DNA polymerases necessitates the identification of novel enzymes with tailor-made properties. In the recent past, DNA polymerases optimized for diverse PCR and sequencing applications as well as enzymes that accept a variety of unnatural substrates for the synthesis and reverse transcription of modified nucleic acids have been developed.