6 ms·
https://news.wisc.edu/decades-on-bacteriums-discovery-feted-as-paragon-of-basic-science/ https://news.wisc.edu/decades-on-bacteriums-discovery-feted-... Taq po
by stubybubs 3y ago
https://news.wisc.edu/decades-on-bacteriums-discovery-feted-as-paragon-of-basic-science/ https://news.wisc.edu/decades-on-bacteriums-discovery-feted-...
Taq polymerase is about my favorite thing discovered through basic research. Just some scientists looking at interesting stuff in a Yellowstone geyser, who happened to discover the molecule that enabled DNA replication in a lab and essentially exploded the field.
No corporation these days is going to pay somebody to do that. I think it's worth the risks to get something like that.
- dekhn 3y agoPolymerase was already known (isolated ,purified, and characterized in '56); the interesting part of Taq was its thermostability which permits thermal cycling to implement PCR (and other neat techniques).