PCR

polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Laboratory technique used to make numerous copies of specific DNA segments quickly and accurately. These are needed for various experiments and procedures in molecular biology, forensic analysis (DNA fingerprinting), evolutionary biology (to amplify DNA fragments found in ancient specimens), and medicine (to diagnose genetic disease or detect low viral counts). Invented by Kary Mullis, PCR requires a DNA template (as little as one molecule) to copy, nucleotides to build the copies, and the enzyme DNA polymerase to catalyze the formation of bonds between the nucleotide monomers. Each three-step cycle (separating the two strands of the DNA double helix, marking the ends of the segment to be copied, and catalyzing the formation of bonds), which takes only minutes to complete, doubles the number of DNA strands present in the reaction medium. Repetition of this cycle many times results in an exponential increase in the amount of DNA.

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PCR

(cell and molecular biology)

polymerase chain reaction