What is PCR?
Polymarase Chain Reaction or PCR is a laboratory technique performed to make millions of copies of DNA from a single template. It is used to amplify a specific sequence in your DNA, which may be used in various experiments in laboratories working with DNA and RNA.
Enzyme that synthesizes new DNA strands that are complimentary to the target sequence. Usually, a Tag (Thermis Aquaticus) polymerase is used because of its high fidelity and resistance to heat.
Specifically designed to match the template strand. The forward primer attaches to the sense strand of the DNA, while the reverse primer attaches itslef to the antisense strand of the DNA. Both primers attaches to the 5' end of the DNA nd move towards each other.
influences the stringency of the interaction between the primers and the DNA template during the annealing step.
Steps in PCR
There are Three (3) major steps in PCR reactions:
Denaturation, Annealing, and Extension