Biomaterial Database

The polymerase chain reaction: amplifying our options. 1991

J B Peter

Specialty Laboratories, Inc., Santa Monica, California 90404-3900.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has had a major impact on our ability to detect infectious agents. However, the impact of PCR has not been uniform throughout the discipline of infectious disease but instead has been applied in various contexts, depending on the current level of diagnostic sophistication for a given disease. The application of PCR in four contexts is presented along with a discussion of the potential of this technique to elucidate the natural history of infectious disease and to serve as a tool for the molecular elucidation of acute and chronic illness.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007239	Infections	Invasion of the host organism by microorganisms or their toxins or by parasites that can cause pathological conditions or diseases.	Infection,Infection and Infestation,Infections and Infestations,Infestation and Infection,Infestations and Infections
D004247	DNA	A deoxyribonucleotide polymer that is the primary genetic material of all cells. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms normally contain DNA in a double-stranded state, yet several important biological processes transiently involve single-stranded regions. DNA, which consists of a polysugar-phosphate backbone possessing projections of purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine), forms a double helix that is held together by hydrogen bonds between these purines and pyrimidines (adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine).	DNA, Double-Stranded,Deoxyribonucleic Acid,ds-DNA,DNA, Double Stranded,Double-Stranded DNA,ds DNA
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D016133	Polymerase Chain Reaction	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.	Anchored PCR,Inverse PCR,Nested PCR,PCR,Anchored Polymerase Chain Reaction,Inverse Polymerase Chain Reaction,Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction,PCR, Anchored,PCR, Inverse,PCR, Nested,Polymerase Chain Reactions,Reaction, Polymerase Chain,Reactions, Polymerase Chain