Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
E.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Introduction
The polymerase chain reaction is a method used for amplifying DNA
sequences in vitro. It is elegant in its simplicity, and yet its many uses
have revolutionized the life sciences. It has almost unlimited applications
in the biomedical sciences, genetics, and biotechnology, and is an impor-
tant tool in forensics as well. PCR even has applications to anthropology
and archaeology. For its invention, Kary Mullis, who conceptualized the
process in 1983 on a drive to his mountain cabin in California, shared the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. At the time, he was trying to help solve
the problem of how to develop a diagnostic test for a genetic disease,
sickle cell anemia, that resulted from by a single base pair mutation in
the hemoglobin gene. The solution, PCR, was published in 1985 (23).
The background for the invention of the PCR was recounted by Mullis
in
Scientific American
(24).
There are several forms of PCR, all of which incorporate the three ba-
sic steps of the PCR reaction (Figure 4). First, the dsDNA is denatured
to separate it into two single strands. Second, the “primer” is allowed
Figure 4. Polymerase chain reaction
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