Principle of the PCR
The purpose of a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is to make a huge number of copies of a gene. There are three major steps in a PCR, which are repeatecd for 30 or 40 cycles. This is done on an automated cycler, which can teat and cool the tubes with the reaction mixture in a very short time.
1. Denatruation at 94℃
During the denaturation, the double strand melts open to single stranded DNA, all enzymatic reactions stop (for example: the extension from a previous cycle).
2. annealing at different℃
The primers are jiggling around, caused by the Brownian motion. Ionic bonds are constantly formed and broken between the single stranded primer and the single stranded template. The more stable bonds last a little bit longer ( primers that fit exactly) and on that little piece of double stranded DNA (template and primer), the polymerase can attach and starts copying the template. Once there are a few bases built in, the ionic bond is so strong between the template and the primer, that does not break anymore.
3. extension at 72℃
This is the ideal working temperature for the polymerase. The primers, where there are a few bases built in, already have a stronger ionic attraction to the template than the forces breaking these attractions. Primers that are on positions with no exact match, get loose again ( because of the higher temperature) and don’t give an extension of the fragment. The bases (complemetary to the template) are coupled to the primer on the 3’side ( the polymerase adds dNTP’s from 5’to 3’, reading the template from 3’ to 5’ side, bases are added complementary to the template).