φ29 phage DNA polymerase (strand-displacement amplification)
ADN polimerasa del fago φ29 (amplificación por desplazamiento)
- Date
- 1984-1989 · confidence high
- Place
- Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology, Madrid, Spain
- Credited to
- Margarita Salas and Luis Blanco
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Margarita Salas and Luis Blanco characterised in 1984-1989 the DNA polymerase of the φ29 virus, which copies very long fragments with high fidelity and displaces the complementary strand without needing to heat the DNA. It allows minute quantities of DNA to be amplified at constant temperature.
Application to whole-genome amplification (MDA) was developed by other groups around 2001-2002 (Dean, Lasken) using the enzyme of Salas and Blanco, patented by the CSIC in 1989.
What it led to
- multiple displacement amplification of DNA (MDA)
- single-cell genomics and forensic and archaeological analysis
- the CSIC patent with the highest revenue in Spanish history