The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has three major steps: 1. Denaturation using high temperature 2. Annealing using DNA primer 3. Extension using nucleotides and taq polymerase (an enzyme very similar to DNA Polymerase III) Exploring the Similarities and Differences between PCR and DNA Replication in Eukaryotic Cells

Exploring the Similarities and Differences between PCR and DNA Replication in Eukaryotic Cells

The process of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA replication in eukaryotic cells share several similarities, however these processes also exhibit many differences. One of the major commonalities between the two processes is the use of DNA primers. In both PCR and DNA replication, the primers are used to denote the beginning and end of the template DNA strand to be replicated (O’Reilly et al., 2017). The first step of PCR is the denaturation of the DNA using high temperatures. This is in contrast to DNA replication in eukaryotic cells, which does not require high temperatures to separate the two strands of the template DNA (Federico et al., 2020). The second step of PCR is the annealing of the primers to the DNA strands, which is also similar to the process of replication in eukaryotic cells (Liu et al., 2016). The final step of PCR is the extension of the primer using nucleotides and the enzyme Taq Polymerase, which is similar to the use of DNA Polymerase III in eukaryotic cells. However, the difference in the enzymes used for the completion of the replication process is the main distinction between PCR and DNA replication in eukaryotic cells (Gao et al., 2021). Cont….