Application of N-terminally Truncated DNA Polymerase from Thermus thermophilus ({Delta}Tth Polymerase) to DNA Sequencing and Polymerase Chain Reactions: Comparative Study of {Delta}Tth and Wild-Type Tth Polymerases

N-Terminally truncated DNA polymerase from Thermus thermophilus(Tth polymerase) lacking 5'-3' exonuclease activity was usedfor DNA sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In contrastto the high background of the sequencing ladder observed withthe wild-type Tth polymerase, Tth polymerase gave readable sequencingpatterns which extend up to more than 500 bases from the primersite on cycle sequencing and automated sequencing. The Tth polymerasewas used for the standard and mutagenic PCR, and net amplificationof the DNA and the mutations accumulated during PCR were analyzed.Under mutagenic PCR, the mutation rates were 7.0 x 10^–4(Tth) and 8.3 x 10^–4 (Tth) per nucleotide per cycle ofamplification, which were 4–9 times higher than the ratesunder standard PCR.