Contaminating DNA, present in most polymerase preparations, often precludes or obscures the accurate interpretation of results, especially when targeting conserved sequences
Sigma-Aldrich announces the launch of MTP Taq DNA polymerase, a recombinant thermostable enzyme from Thermus aquaticus expressed in E coli and purified using a proprietary process to minimise the levels of contaminating DNA.
The enzyme has both five prime three prime DNA polymerase and exonuclease activities, is approximately 95kD by SDS-Page, and has no detectable endonuclease or three prime five prime exonuclease activities.
Each lot of MTP Taq undergoes strict quality control testing to ensure the absence of detectable levels of contaminating DNA.
While MTP Taq ensures a high-quality, low contaminant DNA polymerase for reliable PCR amplification, DNA contaminants can be introduced into PCR through a number of other reagents.
To further minimise the risk of contaminant DNA during PCR, 10x MTP Taq buffer is included with each vial of MTP Taq.
This product is said to be ideal for researchers detecting and identifying bacterial DNA, looking for a more accurate method in mutation scanning techniques, and wanting to prevent the amplification of undesired DNA sequences.
"The MTP Taq DNA polymerase is an excellent complement to Sigma's specialty enzyme product offering," said Keith Jolliff, global marketing manager of molecular biology at Sigma-Aldrich.
"This low DNA Taq yields an accurate representation of bacterial DNA that offers researchers convenience and quality control for comparing desired sequences from a variety of bacterial DNA samples".
Sigma's proprietary DNA removal methods and strict quality control standards ensure the absence of the most commonly found contaminant DNA.
Each lot of MTP Taq is assayed using PCR and primers specific to (1) the conserved region of bacterial 16S rRNA, (2) the Taq expression vector, and (3) the human beta-actin gene.
For convenience, MTP Taq DNA Polymerase is offered at a concentration of five units per microlitre in three package sizes: 50 units, 250 units, and 1500 units.
Sigma-Aldrich's biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing.
It has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry.
Over one million scientists and technologists use its products.
Sigma-Aldrich operates in 35 countries and has over 6800 employees providing excellent service worldwide.
