Question

Describe the roles of heat, primers and the bacterium Thermus aquaticus in the process of PCR. [3]

Answer 1

Heat causes denaturation or separation of double stranded DNA. [1]

Primer acts as an initiator where deoxyribonucleotides provided in the reaction mixture extend it with the help of the enzyme DNA polymerase. [1]

Thermus aquaticus is a source of thermostable DNA polymerase for which PCR is possible at high temperature. [1]