Classical Convert

The PCR Song

Oooo, I can’t resist this. It’s a song (and viral advert) for PCR, or polymerase chain reaction: probably the most ubiquitous and useful technique in DNA research, which is what I do.

If you don’t fancy reading the whole wikipedia article, it’s basically a technique for multiplying a very small amount of DNA (which is what you tend to get from biological samples) into a very large amount of DNA. It uses something called Taq polymerase which is a special enzyme extracted from bacteria which live in thermal springs and can stand really high temperatures. Basically all you do is throw some in with your DNA and a bunch of bases, and keep heating it up and cooling it down. It’s amazingly simple and remarkably effective.

And a rather unexpected subject for a song.

Now we just need one about DNA helicase!