Molecular Biology Research Technique
polymerase chain reaction
[ puh-lih-meh-rays chayn ree-ak-shun ]
Subclass of:
Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques
Definitions related to polymerase chain reaction:
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A laboratory method used to make many copies of a specific DNA sequence.NCI Dictionary of Cancer TermsU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A method for amplifying a DNA base sequence using multiple rounds of heat denaturation of the DNA and annealing of oligonucleotide primers complementary to flanking regions in the presence of a heat-stable polymerase. This results in duplication of the targeted DNA region. Newly synthesized DNA strands can subsequently serve as additional templates for the same primer sequences, so that successive rounds of primer annealing, strand elongation, and dissociation produce rapid and highly specific amplification of the desired sequence. PCR also can be used to detect the existence of the defined sequence in a DNA sample.NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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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.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Method for reproducing specific DNA sequences based on elongation of complementary primers by DNA polymerase; primarily used to increase quantities for analytical detection of, e.g., virus genome.CRISP ThesaurusNational Institutes of Health, 2006
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Molecular, Polymerase chain reactionNCI Health Level 7 VocabularyU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2018
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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique used to make numerous copies of a specific segment of DNA quickly and accurately. The polymerase chain reaction enables investigators to obtain the large quantities of DNA that are required for various experiments and procedures in molecular biology...Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020
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