Polymerase chain reaction automation

Sequencing of DNA is carried out by the Sanger dideoxy method, and small DNA segments can be synthesized in the laboratory by automated instruments. Small amounts of DNA can be amplified by factors of 106 using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 

Synthetic oligonucleotides are very important tools in the study and manipulation of DNA, including such techniques as site-directed mutagenesis and DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction. The techniques for chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides are highly developed. Very efficient automated methodologies based on solid phase synthesis are used extensively in fields that depend on the availability of defined DNA sequences.52... 

Nucleic acid-based technologies Nucleic acid probe Polymerase chain reaction, DNA amplication 16S rRNA sequencing techniques automated riboprinting... 

The traditional microbiological methods are very time consuming and sometimes limited concerning their interpretation. For that reason fast analysis methods as well as automated methods have been developed the latter are often used in specialised microbiological laboratories. During the last few years more and more modern biotechnological methods have been implemented into quality control, for example the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or more recently the polymerase chain reaction, which allows the detection of very specific microorganisms. 

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), on the other hand, has several advantages it can be used to analyze small numbers of tumor cells, DNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue can be used, and it can be automated and standardized. Quantitative PCR techniques are currently being assessed for their clinical application to HF.R-2 DNA testing (Vona et al., 1999). However, presently the PCR technology is not optimally suited for routine, clinical application (see next section for details of quantitative analysis of HER-2Ineu expression). 

Fig. 6. (Opposite page) A high-throughput production method for screening proteins from cDNA libraries. Authentic (A) and glutathione -transferase (GST)-fused (G) proteins in the reaction mixtures after a semi-automated polymerase chain reaction/ transcription and translation from 54 different cDNAs separated by sodium dodecyl sul-fide-polyaciylamide gel electrophoresis and stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. T and S, respectively, mark total translation product and the supernatant fraction after centrifugation at 30,000g for 15 min.

The use of nucleotides as tags allowed automated synthesis, cloning and amplification of the coding signal by means of PCR (polymerase chain reaction), and the whole decoding sequence became easy, extremely sensitive and automated. The use of PCR required two oligonucleotide sequences to be... 

Research on DNA-based materials also depends on the facility of obtaining various DNA samples. Profiting from the life sciences, the automated synthesis method is virtually able to synthesize designed DNA, and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can amplify the DNA sequence. On the other hand, as a native substance widely existing in organisms, DNA has a broad source in the natural world, especially, from fisheries. A typical case is the salmon milt, which is mostly treated as feedstuff. The DNA content in salmon milt is over... 

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