what is 0.5 unit of Taq Polymerase? - (Sep/26/2012 )

Hello,

Can someone tell me what is 0.5 unit of jump start taq polymerase. I was reading a paper and for the PCR they say they use 0.5 units. So, what exactly is 0.5 units of jump start taq?

Also, is there a very big difference between speed of taq polymerase from different companies?

Enzymes are measured in units - typically conversion of a certain amount of substrate to product in a set period of time. Look on your taq tube it will say units per ul or ml.

The speed (processivity) of different taqs will not be highly different, but there are other DNA polymerases such as KOD, pfu and PWO that are much faster.

it say 500 units and 5U/mL
What does this mean ?

This means that you have 500 units of taq in total, at a concentration of 5 units per uL (you said mL but that can't be right, you must mean 5 units per ul?)

So you have 100 ul of taq solution in total