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Biology vocabulary · Laboratory Work and Techniques

PCR

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˌpiː siː ˈɑːr/abbreviationCommon term

In biology, PCR means: Short for polymerase chain reaction, a lab technique that makes millions of copies of a chosen piece of DNA in a few hours through repeated cycles of heating and cooling.

In Turkish: PCR, polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu, PZR

How it is used

Each cycle has three steps: denaturation, annealing of primers and extension by a heat-stable DNA polymerase such as Taq. The machine is a thermal cycler. People run, set up or do a PCR; qPCR measures the amount of DNA in real time.

Example sentences

  1. We set up a PCR to amplify the 500-base-pair fragment.

  2. The PCR failed because the annealing temperature was too high.

Common collocations

  • run a PCR
  • PCR product
  • real-time PCR
  • PCR primers
  • thermal cycler
  • DNAShort for deoxyribonucleic acid, the molecule that stores genetic information in every cell and in many viruses. It is made of two strands twisted into a double helix.
  • gel electrophoresisA lab technique that separates DNA, RNA or protein fragments by size, using an electric current to pull them through a gel.
  • denatureTo change the natural folded shape of a protein or DNA, for example with heat, extreme pH or chemicals, so that it can no longer work normally.
  • pipetteA laboratory tool used to measure and transfer exact small volumes of liquid. As a verb, it means to move liquid with this tool.
  • nucleotideThe basic building block of DNA and RNA, made of a sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogen-containing base such as adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) or cytosine (C).

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Laboratory Work and Techniques

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