Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Suggest and describe a technique to obtain multiple copies of a gene of interest in vitro.
Advertisements
Solution
For the PCR, two sets of primers (chemically synthesised oligonucleotides that are complementary to a region of DNA), the enzyme DNA polymerase and deoxynucleotides are added.
The PCR consists of three steps:
-
Denaturation: Double helical DNA is denatured at a high temperature. DNA polymerase does not get degraded at this temperature, as the DNA polymerase used in this reaction is thermostable. It is isolated from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus aquaticus (Taq).
-
Annealing: It is the step in which primers are annealed to single-stranded DNA templates. Two sets of primers (chemically synthesised small oligonucleotides that are
complementary to the regions of DNA) are used. The temperature of the reaction mixture is lowered to 50–65 °C for some seconds to allow annealing of the primers. DNA polymerase extends the primer in the 5' to 3' direction. -
Extension: Replication of DNA occurs in vitro.
-
This cycle is repeated several times to generate up to one billion identical copies of DNA.

APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Can you list 10 recombinant proteins which are used in medical practice? Find out where they are used as therapeutics (use the internet).
In a pathological lab, a series of steps were undertaken for finding the gene of interest. Describe the steps, or make a flow chart showing the process of amplification of this gene of interest.
Which of the following term used for defining a viral genome incorporated into host DNA?
______ plays an important role in blood clotting.
PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism are the methods for ______.
During the purification process for recombinant DNA technology, the addition of chilled ethanol precipitates out ______.
During the process of gene amplification using PCR, if a very high temperature is not maintained in the beginning, then which of the following steps of PCR will be affected first?
Which of the following steps are catalysed by Taq DNA polymerase in a PCR reaction?
Do biomolecules (DNA, protein) exhibit biological activity in anhydrous conditions?
Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
| Biotechnology revolves around the "gene of interest", with an objective to open various avenues for human welfare in health, medicine, pharma, agriculture etc. using different techniques, tools and processes. One of the breakthroughs of biotechnology in medicine is the gene therapy. |
- Name the human disease for which the gene therapy was used for the first time.
- Explain the steps of gene therapy carried to cure the disease using the lymphocytes of the patient. Why is this therapy not a permanent cure of the disease?
- Write the possible permanent cure of the disease by the gene therapy that is in progress.
