| |

DNA Polymerase Selection Chart

The following table lists properties that should be considered when choosing a polymerase. Since these properties can depend on reaction conditions, the primary references should be consulted prior to use in a given application.

PCR Polymerases	3′–>5′ Exonuclease	Fidelity	5′–>3′ Exonuclease	Strand Displacement	Nick Translation	Extend RNA Primer	Extension from Nick	dU Tolerance	Resulting Ends	Popular Formats Available	Applications
High Fidelity PCR
Q5^® High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase	++++	280x Taq	No	_	No	No	No	No	Blunt	Q5^® High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase	Ultra high-fidelity PCR, long range PCR, cloning from in vitro material for protein expression or gene analysis, SNP analysis via cloning and sequencing, site directed mutagenesis
										Q5^® Hot Start High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase
										Q5^® High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase 2x Master Mix
										Q5^® High-Fidelity Hot Start DNA Polymerase 2x Master Mix
										NEBNext^® Ultra™ II Q5^® Master Mix	NGS library prep
										Q5^®Blood Direct 2X Master Mix	Blood direct high-fidelity PCR"
Q5U^® Hot Start High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase	++++		No	_	No	No	No	Yes	Blunt	Q5U^® Hot Start High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase	USER cloning, high fidelity amplification of bisulfite converted or deaminated DNA substrates, carryover prevention
Q5U^® Hot Start High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase	++++		No	_	No	No	No	Yes	Blunt	NEBNext Q5U^® Master Mix
Phusion^® High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase*	++++	39^b-50x^c Taq	No	_	No	No	No	No	Blunt	Phusion^® High Fidelity DNA Polymerase	High-Fidelity PCR, cloning
										Phusion^® High Fidelity PCR Master Mix with HF Buffer
										Phusion^® High Fidelity PCR Master Mix with GC Buffer
										Phusion^® Hot Start Flex DNA Polymerase
										Phusion^® Hot Start Flex 2X Master Mix
Routine PCR
OneTaq^® DNA Polymerase	++	2x	Yes	_^j	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	3'A/Blunt	OneTaq^® DNA Polymerase	Routine PCR, colony PCR, genotype screening
										OneTaq^® Hot Start DNA Polymerase
										OneTaq^® 2X Master Mix with Standard Buffer
										OneTaq^® Hot Start 2X Master Mix with Standard Buffer
										OneTaq^® Hot Start 2X Master Mix with GC Buffer
										OneTaq^® Quick-Load DNA Polymerase
										OneTaq^® Quick-Load^® 2X Master Mix
Taq DNA Polymerase	_	1x	Yes	^{_^j}	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	3'A	Taq DNA Polymerase with Thermopol Buffer	Routine PCR
										Hot Start Taq DNA Polymerase
										Taq 2X Master Mix
										Hot Start Taq 2X Master Mix
										Quick-Load Taq 2X Master Mix
										Multiplex PCR 5X Master Mix	Multiplex end point PCR
Specialty PCR
LongAmp^® Taq DNA Polymerase	++	2x	Yes	_^j	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	3'A/Blunt	LongAmp^® Taq DNA Polymerase	Long range PCR for complex and simple templates
										LongAmp^® Hot Start Taq DNA Polymerase
										LongAmp^® Taq 2X Master Mix
										LongAmp^® Hot Start Taq 2X Master Mix
Hemo KlenTaq	_		No	+	No	No	No	Yes	3'A	Hemo KlenTaq	Blood direct PCR
Epimark^® Hot Start Taq DNA Polymerase	_		Yes	^{_^j}	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	3'A	Epimark^® Hot Start Taq DNA Polymerase	Bisulfite converted DNA amplification, AT rich templates
Isothermal Amplification and Strand Displacement	3′–>5′ Exonuclease	Error Rate (x 10^-6)	5′–>3′ Exonuclease	Strand Displacement	Nick Translation	Extend RNA Primer	Extension from Nick	dU Tolerance	Resulting Ends	Popular Formats Available	Applications
Bst DNA Polymerase, Full Length	_		Yes	_^j	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Bst DNA Polymerase, Full Length	Nick translation
Bst DNA Polymerase, Large Fragment	_		No	++++	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Bst DNA Polymerase, Large Fragment	Isothermal Amplification (LAMP, SDA) molecular diagnostic, field diagnostics
Bst 2.0 DNA Polymerase	_	62 (±5)^e	No	++++	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Bst 2.0 DNA Polymerase
										Bst 2.0 WarmStart^® DNA Polymerase
										WarmStart Colorimetric LAMP 2X Master Mix with UDG
										WarmStart^® LAMP Kit (DNA & RNA)
										WarmStart^® Colorimetric LAMP 2X Master Mix (DNA & RNA)
Bst 3.0 DNA Polymerase	_	70 (±23)^e	No	++++	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Bst 3.0 DNA Polymerase
Bsu DNA Polymerase, Large Fragment	_		No	+	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Bsu DNA Polymerase, Large Fragment	Isothermal Amplification (RPA, SDA, RCA)
phi29 DNA Polymerase	++++	5ⁱ	No	++++	No	Yes	Yes^k	Yes	Blunt	phi29 DNA Polymerase	RCA
phi29-XT DNA Polymerase	++++	5ⁱ	No	++++	No	Yes	Yes^k	Yes	Blunt	phi29-XT RCA Kit	RCA
Polymerases for DNA Manipulation	3′–>5′ Exonuclease	Error Rate (x 10^-6)	5′–>3′ Exonuclease	Strand Displacement	Nick Translation	Extend RNA Primer	Extension from Nick	dU Tolerance	Resulting Ends	Popular Formats Available	Applications
T7 DNA Polymerase (unmodified)	++++	15^h	No	_	No	Yes	No		Blunt	T7 DNA Polymerase (unmodified)
Sulfolobus DNA Polymerase IV	_		No	_	No				3'A	Sulfolobus DNA Polymerase IV	Trans lesion bypass
Therminator™ DNA Polymerase	_		No	+	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Therminator™ DNA Polymerase	Chain terminator
DNA Polymerase I (E. coli)	++	9^f	Yes	^{_^j}	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Blunt	DNA Polymerase I (E. coli)	Second strand synthesis, nick translation
DNA Polymerase I, Large (Klenow) Fragment'	++	18^g	No	+	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Blunt	DNA Polymerase I, Large (Klenow) Fragment'	Blunting, primer extension
Klenow Fragment (3′→5′ exo-)	_	100^g	No	+++	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	3'A	Klenow Fragment (3′→5′ exo-)	A tailing, random priming labeling
T4 DNA Polymerase	++++	<1^f	No	_	No	Yes	No		Blunt	T4 DNA Polymerase	Blunting
Legacy Polymerases	3′–>5′ Exonuclease	Error Rate (x 10^-6)	5′–>3′ Exonuclease	Strand Displacement	Nick Translation	Extend RNA Primer	Extension from Nick	dU Tolerance	Resulting Ends	Popular Formats Available	Applications
Vent^® DNA Polymerase	++		No	+	No	No	Yes	No	Blunt	Vent^® DNA Polymerase
Vent^® (exo–) DNA Polymerase	_		No	+++	No	No	Yes	No	3'A	Vent^® (exo–) DNA Polymerase
Deep Vent^® DNA Polymerase	+++		No	++	No	No	Yes	No	Blunt	Deep Vent^® DNA Polymerase
Deep Vent^® (exo–) DNA Polymerase	_		No	+++	No	No	Yes	No	3'A	Deep Vent^® (exo–) DNA Polymerase

Deep Vent^® and Therminator™ are trademarks of New England Biolabs, Inc.
Q5^®, Q5U^®, LongAmp^®, OneTaq^®, Vent^®are registered trademarks of New England Biolabs, Inc.

* Notice to Customers:
Phusion^® DNA Polymerase was developed by Finnzymes Oy, now a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. This product is manufactured by New England Biolabs, Inc. under agreement with, and under the performance specifications of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Phusion^® is registered trademark and property of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

References:

Measured by the opal reversion assay of Kunkel et al. [(1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 84, 4865–4869 PMID: 3474631] which reflects the error rate for a single round of gap_filling DNA synthesis. Several alternative assays are also available, although comparing error frequencies among these assays is complicated because they measure different aspects of error introduction.
Potapov, V., & Ong, J. L. (2017). Examining Sources of Error in PCR by Single_Molecule Sequencing. PloS one, 12(1), e0169774. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169774 PMID: 28060945
as reported my Finnzymes/Thermo Scientific
Tindall, K.R. and Kunkel, T.A. (1988) Biochemistry, 27, 6008–6013. PMID: 2847780
Potapov, V., Fu, X., Dai, N., Corrêa, I.R., Tanner, N.A., Ong, J.L. (2018) Base modifications affecting RNA polymerase and reverse transcriptase fidelity. Nucleic Acids Research, 46 (11), 5753–5763.doi: 10.1093/nar/gky341 PMID: 29750267
Kunkel, T.A., Loeb, L.A. and Goodman, M.F. (1984) J. Biol. Chem., 259, 1539–1545 PIMD: 26229537
Bebenek, K., Joyce, C.M., Fitzgerald, M.P. and Kunkel, T.A. (1990) J. Biol. Chem., 265, 13878–13887. PIMD: 2199444
Mattila, P., Korpela, J., Tenkanen, T. and Pitkanen, K. (1991) Nucleic Acids Res., 19, 4967–4973. PMID: 8420970
Esteban, Salas, and Blanco 1993 JBC 268(4):2719_2726
Destroys displaced strand.
Extension from a nick with Phi29 is not efficient, we would recommend Bsu or E. coli DNA Polymerase I for applications needing this activity.

- denotes no observed activity

+ denotes presence and degree of activity

Applications

Product Categories

Tools

Resources

DNA Polymerase Selection Chart

References:

References:

Choose your country

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific