Semiquantitative Real-Time PCR for Analysis of mRNA Levels - Drugs of Abuse: Neurological Reviews and Protocols - page 222

7. Real-time PCR can be accomplished using SYBRGreen (described here) or
molecular beacons that contain two dyes (one is a quencher) on the primer pair.
The advantage of these beacon primers is that one does not have to be concerned
with fl uorescent signal due to nonspecifi c amplifi cation, or with primer dimers.
The major disadvantage, however, is the cost (much more expensive, per reaction,
than SYBR Green). If an investigator has only a handful of genes to be quantifi ed
on a routine basis, the molecular beacon approach will prove superior.

8. Methods for quantifi cation of RT-PCR results range from the relatively simple to
the very complex (13 , 14) . Presented here is an example of how to do measure-
ments of relative quantitation in a straightforward fashion.

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