POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION & ITS APPLICATIONS IN DENTISTRY

Neha Vaid*, Priyanka Choudhary, Puja Bansal, Kalyani Bhargava and Deepak Bhargava

ABSTRACT

Various molecular biology techniques have become available in the last few years. One of the most revolutionary of these techniques regarding nucleic acid analysis is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which was first described in 1985. PCR can be preceded by a reverse transcription (RT) reaction in order to produce cDNA from RNA (RT-PCR). RT-PCR provides the possibility to assess gene transcription in cells or tissues. The focus of this review is to describe the current status of the DNA-based method PCR which has become a standard diagnostic and research tool in dentistry.

Keywords: Polymerase chain reaction, Reverse transcriptase, DNA based techniques, Diagnostic tool.