Techniques used to study the DNA polymerase reaction pathway

A minimal reaction pathway for DNA polymerases was established over 20 years ago using chemical-quench methods. Since that time there has been considerable interest in noncovalent steps in the reaction pathway, conformational changes involving the polymerase or its DNA substrate that may play a role in substrate specificity. Fluorescence-based assays have been devised in order to study these conformational transitions and the results obtained have added new detail to the reaction pathway. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.