Which technique involves forming incomplete nucleic acid fragments?

The Sanger method of sequencing is distinguished by its reliance on the incorporation of chain-terminating nucleotides during DNA synthesis. In this technique, DNA polymerase synthesizes new DNA strands by adding nucleotides complementary to the template strand. When a dideoxynucleotide (a modified version of a nucleotide lacking a 3' hydroxyl group) is incorporated, it prevents further elongation of the DNA strand because no additional nucleotides can be added to the chain. This results in the formation of incomplete nucleic acid fragments of varying lengths, each terminating at different bases where the dideoxynucleotide was incorporated.

This process generates a collection of fragments that can be separated by size, allowing for the determination of the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA. Consequently, the Sanger method is notable for creating incomplete fragments essential for sequencing purposes, as each fragment corresponds to a unique sequence length that tells us where the dideoxynucleotides were incorporated during the synthesis process.

Other techniques, such as PCR amplification, are primarily used for amplifying specific DNA segments rather than generating incomplete fragments. Next-generation sequencing involves massively parallel sequencing, generating complete fragments through different methods, and gene editing techniques, like CRISPR