Polymerization behavior of Klenow fragment and <italic>Taq</italic> DNA polymerase in short primer extension reactions

DNA polymerases amplify DNA fragments through primer extension reactions. However, polymerization behavior of short primers in the primer extension process has not been systematically explored. In this study, we examined the minimal primer length required for primer extension, and the effect of primer length, mismatches and other conditions on DNA polymerization using a non-radioactive method. Under the condition we conducted, the shortest primers polymerized by Klenow fragment (KF) and Taq DNA polymerase in our experiments were respectively heptamer and octamer. The extension efficiency was also affected by the up-stream overhanging structure of the primer-template complex. We hypothesized a simple model to interpret these observations based on the polymerase structures. Furthermore, it was found that the longer the primer, the more efficient is the primer extension. These polymerization behavior of short primers lay foundation about DNA polymerization mechanism and development of novel nucleic acid detection assays.