Answer to Question #119127 in Genetics for Brittney

Question

Polymerase chain reaction and transcription both copy DNA. Describe two differences between the two processes.

Answer 1

Since PCR is an artificial method, and dna replication (copying) is a natural process, there are differences:

1) in the PCR, the dna chain is artificially denatured by high temperature, and during DNA replication, the dna chains diverge under the action of the helicase enzyme and are kept unfolded under the action of SSB ( single strand binding protein)

2) upon replication from one dna molecule, two identical ones are formed, while PCR allows the production of many identical dna copies of a given sample. That is, the task of replication is to transfer dna to daughter cells, while the task of pur is to amplify dna for further use by researchers, when we have a small amount of sample.