Taq polymerase

noun

A thermostable DNA polymerase known for its relatively high rate of transcription errors.

Meanings

nounTaq polymerase (plural Taq polymerases)

plural Taq polymerases

  1. biochemistryA thermostable DNA polymerase known for its relatively high rate of transcription errors.

    Taq polymerase lacks a proofreading activity and as a result is unable to correct its errors.

    2010, Terry Brown, Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis: An Introduction, →ISBN, page 157
    2 more examples

    Another use of Taq polymerase is directly in DNA sequencing, where the high temperatures employed help reduce problems caused by secondary structure in the template and allow an increase in the stringency of primers used. Taq polymerase has, for the reasons mentioned earlier, become a very important tool for the molecular biologist.

    2009, A.N. Shukla, Industrial Enzymology, →ISBN, page 237

    If a PCR is performed with Taq polymerase and with 10,000 template molecules, producing a product that is 1000 bp long, 1% of the newly generated fragments will have a mutation in the first cycle.

    2010, Cornel Mulhardt, Molecular Biology and Genomics, →ISBN, page 73

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

Taq polymerase. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taq%20polymerase

MLA

“Taq polymerase.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taq%20polymerase. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Taq polymerase,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taq%20polymerase.

Source: Taq polymerase on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.