In general proteins are finicky and difficult to control in

In general, proteins are finicky and difficult to control in a test tube. Therefore, when possible, researchers will develop an alternative approach to carry out their functions. For example, one of the proteins that is necessary for DNA replication is an enzyme that breaks the hydrogen bonds between two strands and separates them into two single strands of DNA. Either circle this factor above or write it out below. As an alternative, researches found that high temperatures (near boiling, 99 C), the thermal energy of the DNA strands will overcome the attraction of the hydrogen bonds and the two strands will separate. This change also motivates why we use DNA polymerase I from Thermus aquaticus. Can you hypothesize why this is so?

Solution

Yes, your thinking is in the right direction, by using the heat energy to seperate the DNA strand, we can do away with enzymes like helicase and topoisomerase, thanks to taq polymerase.