Cheetah™ Taq is a chemically modified hot-start Taq DNA polymerase useful for preventing or reducing nonspecific DNA amplification in PCR. Modified using a novel modifying reagent, Cheetah™ Taq represents a major improvement upon AmpliTaq® Gold by having a faster activation time and better shelf-life. Under standard hot-start conditions (i.e., 94°C in pH 8-9 Tris), Cheetah™ Taq regains both the 3'-5' polymerase and 5'-exonuclease activities within two minutes. Cheetah™ Taq is also superior to antibody-based hot-start DNA polymerases due to its complete supression of enzyme activity at room temperature and full recovery of enzyme activity following activation. Cheetah™ Taq is covered by patent US patents. AmpliTaq is a registered trademark of Thermo Fisher Scientific.