Proposed catalytic mechanism of Taq Pol. P0, P1, and P2 are the three FRET phases observed in the stopped-flow traces. DNA* and DNA denotes the position of the templating base either in the pre-insertion site, stacked with Y671 of Taq Pol, or in the insertion site, correctly positioned for base pairing with an incoming dNTP. Eapo, E, E′ and E″ represent four distinct conformations of Taq Pol. PPi indicates pyrophosphate.