Recombinant His-tagged DNA polymerase. II. Cloning and purification of Thermus aquaticus recombinant DNA polymerase (Stoffel fragment).

The Stoffel DNA fragment, shortened by 12 bp from 5' end, coding for Stoffel DNA polymerase (missing 4 amino acids at N-terminus of Stoffel amino-acids sequence) from the thermophilic Thermus aquaticus (strain YT-1) was amplified, cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant Stoffel fragment contained a polyhistidine tag at the N-terminus (21 additional amino acids) that allowed its single-step isolation by Ni2+ affinity chromatography. The enzyme was characterized and displayed high DNA polymerase activity and thermostability evidently higher than the native Taq DNA polymerase.