Polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid analysis

Nucleic acids are also valuable as diagnostic reagents. In combination with the recently developed amplification method, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid probes allow the detection of trace amounts of a specified nucleic acid sequence. Thus, the presence of the DNA of pathogens can be ascertained with great sensitivity and rapidity. Further, these tools permit the analysis and the detection of gene defects in individual patients, and aid in the tailoring of therapeutic strategies. These applications are discussed in Chapter 8. 

Nucleic acid analysis. Methods that analyse the microbial community from nucleic acid composition are based on use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Universal forward and reverse primers are used in combination with PCR to amplify species-specific DNA fragments (usually the 16S subunit of ribosomal DNA) from samples isolated directly from soil. Samples then are separated... 

Over the past 30 years, most of the important discoveries in the biological sciences have been associated with proteins and nucleic acids, and thus chemists have been most active in conducting their research to address the relationship between the structure and function of these macromolecules as well as to develop small molecules as mechanistic probes or drug candidates to target these two types of biopolymers. This rapid progress of development is undoubtedly due to—other than the importance of proteins and nucleic acids in biological functions—the availability of various powerful tools (such as the polymerase chain reaction, solid-phase synthesizers, sequence analysis, and sensitive assay systems) to both chemists and biologists, and the close interplay between these two disciplines. 

The fundamental step in the analysis of nucleic acids is the amplification of the target sequence by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplified DNA is subsequently analyzed by post-PCR steps to detect pathological relevant mutations. If known mutations, like specific codon within an oncogene, have to be detected. 

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an in vitro DNA replication and amplification technique that revolutionized nucleic acid analysis [36]. It enables small amount of nucleic acid molecules to be exponentially amplified (i.e., to generate enough material for their analysis and sequencing). PCR is a commonly used technique in biomedical, molecular biology, and clinical diagnostics laboratories... 

Unlike food proteins, nucleic acids have no nutritional value but are characteristic of the various biological components in complex products. Thus, the analysis of nucleic acids in food allows control laboratories to determine the presence or absence of certain ingredients in complex products or the identification of specific single food components. These analyses were based on nucleic acid probes, including the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which made the detection of minute amounts... 

Nucleic acid analysis involves the determination of particular sequences of bases. Because of the low concentrations of individual sequences in most samples, enzymatic amplification processes such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) must be integrated into the assay to enrich the sample for the sequences of interest. These amplification processes are never completely specific, and unless the assay is to rely solely on sequence selection during PCR, postamplification analysis is required to confirm the identity of... 

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