Taq
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Biology
| Stands for | Thermus aquaticus (DNA polymerase) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
Taq stands for Thermus aquaticus (DNA polymerase), a biology abbreviation.
Heat-stable DNA polymerase from the hot-spring bacterium Thermus aquaticus, the enzyme that made PCR practical because it survives repeated heating to about 95 °C. It works best near 72 °C and adds an extra A to the ends of the DNA it copies.
Example: Amplify the fragment with Taq using 35 cycles and a 30-second extension per kilobase.
Usage notes
Thomas Brock and Hudson Freeze isolated T. aquaticus from Yellowstone's Lower Geyser Basin in 1966, and Taq polymerase was purified in 1976. Taq lacks proofreading, so high-fidelity enzymes such as Pfu or Q5 are used when accuracy matters. Science magazine named Taq its first "Molecule of the Year" in 1989.
Related abbreviations
More biology abbreviations
- AA – Amino acid
- ADP – Adenosine diphosphate
- AMP – Adenosine monophosphate
- ATP – Adenosine triphosphate
- BMR – Basal metabolic rate
- BSA – Bovine serum albumin
- BSL – Biosafety level
- CAM – Crassulacean acid metabolism
- cAMP – Cyclic adenosine monophosphate
- Cas9 – CRISPR-associated protein 9
- CFU – Colony-forming unit
- CHO – Chinese hamster ovary (cells)