Polymerase chain reaction temperature control

Yoon DS, Lee Y-S, Lee Y, Cho HJ, Sung SW, Oh KW, Cha J, Lim G (2002) Precise temperature control and rapid thermal cycling in a micromachined DNA polymerase chain reaction chip. J Micromech Microeng 12 813-823... 

The same concept of volumetric in situ heating by microwaves was also exploited by Larhed and coworkers in the context of scaling-up a biochemical process such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [25], In PCR technology, strict control of temperature in the heating cycles is essential in order not to deactivate the enzymes involved. With classical heating of a milliliter-scale sample, the time required for heat transfer through the wall of the reaction tube and to obtain an even temperature in the whole sample is still substantial. In practice, the slow distribution of heat... 

Figure 5-17. Typical temperature profile of a polymerase chain reaction. The polymerase chain reaction is carried out in a thermocycler where the temperature is controlled by a microprocessor unit. The temperature regime is varied so that the double stranded DNA is...

Recall Why is temperature control so important in the polymerase chain reaction ... 

The polymerase chain reaction depends on repeated cycles of separation of DNA strands followed by annealing of primers. The first step requires a significantly higher temperature than the second, giving rise to the requirement for strict temperature control. 

RopCT MG, Easley CJ, Legendre LA, Humphrey JAC, Landers JP (2007) Infrared temperature control system for a completely noncontact polymerase chain reaction in microfluidic chips. Anal Chem 79 1294—1300... 

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