PCR

PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction, which is a method for amplifying segments of DNA, by generating multiple copies using DNA polymerase enzymes under controlled conditions. As little as a single copy of the DNA segment or gene can be cloned into millions of copies, allowing detection using dyes and other visualization techniques.

The process of PCR has made it possible to perform DNA sequencing and identify the order of nucleotides in individual genes.

PCR techniques are applied in many areas of biotechnology including protein engineering, cloning, forensics (DNA fingerprinting) and for analysis of environmental samples.