What are the applications of Polymerase Chain Reaction or PCR?

Answer 1

Clinical microbiology: Viral load (HIV,HCV,HBV,...); Bacterial load (Salmonella, Mycobacterium,..); Fungal load( Candida, Cryptococcus, Aspergillus,....); Food microbiology; and Bacterial load (Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter,...). Clinical oncology: Minimal residual disease; Chromosomal translocations; and Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). Gene therapy: Gene transfer estimation;and Biodistribution of vector. Gene expression: Cytokines; receptors,....... ANSWER A very important application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is in the field of forensic science. Sometime a sample of DNA may be too small to be of any use as it is. Thankfully, PCR allows a small sample of DNA to be amplified thus making many more copies of the DNA. Now instead of a small sample you have a large sample. Sample size is very important when involving other forensic techniques such as electrophoresis. (To give an analogy there is not much difference between 4 lbs and 6 pounds. However, if yo amplified both by 10,000, you will see that there is a noticeable difference of 20,000 lbs. PCR makes the difference in weight noticeable so that results of electrophoresis can be analyzed.