Abstract: The present disclosure provides compositions, methods, kits, systems and apparatus that are useful for nucleic acid polymerization. In particular, recombinant polymerases and biologically active fragments thereof are provided that allow for nucleic acid amplification. In some aspects, the disclosure provides recombinant polymerases that yield lower systematic error rates and/or improved accuracy, when used in sequencing by synthesis reactions as compared to a control polymerase. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to recombinant polymerases useful for nucleic acid sequencing, genotyping, copy number variation analysis, paired-end sequencing and other forms of genetic analysis. In another aspect, the recombinant polymerases are useful for the amplification of nucleic acid templates during PCR, emPCR, isothermal amplification, recombinase polymerase amplification, rolling circle amplification, strand displacement amplification and proximity ligation amplification.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and kitset for rapid collecting and storing of a plurality of biological samples for later identification of the individual sources of the samples. The preferred types of samples described are sources of DNA such as blood. The invention is particularly useful in the tracing of meat specimens back to the carcasses from which they originated, but many other applications are possible.