Polymerase Chain Reaction
| Definition: |
In vitro method for producing large amounts of specific DNA or RNA fragments of defined length and sequence from small amounts of short oligonucleotide flanking sequences (primers). The essential steps include thermal denaturation of the double-stranded target molecules, annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences, and extension of the annealed primers by enzymatic synthesis with DNA polymerase. The reaction is efficient, specific, and extremely sensitive. Uses for the reaction include disease diagnosis, detection of difficult-to-isolate pathogens, mutation analysis, genetic testing, DNA sequencing, and analyzing evolutionary relationships. |
| Also Called: |
Anchored PCR,Inverse PCR,Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction |
| Previously Indexed: |
Gene Amplification (1988-1989) |
Polymerase Chain Reaction Categories.
Polymerase Chain Reaction Definitions and Terms
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