Lets make many copies of DNA!

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique is used to amplify DNA and RNA from a sample. A machine called the thermal cycler is used to create large amounts for research and experiments.

Requirements:

• Sample of DNA or RNA is needed

• Short single-stranded DNA, DNA primers

• An enzyme to aid synthesis for the strand, DNA polymerase

• Build duplicate DNA strands by nucleotide mix with adenine, thymidine, cytosine and guanine

PCR machine (thermal cycler) steps:

1. Denaturation: double-stranded DNA is heated and separated into two strands; for 1 to 5 minutes at 94-98 Celsius

2. Annealing: Temperature is lowered so DNA sequences bind to complementary sequences on single-stranded DNA; 50-60 Celsius

3. Extension: DNA polymerase (Taq polymerase) extends to primers by adding nucleotides to synthesize new DNA strand. Temperature cycles from 95 Celsius to 60 Celsius is repeated 35-40 times which provides amplified copies of DNA.

4. Analysis with Electrophoresis: PCR generated nucleotide are loaded into a separating gel where an electrical current runs through the gel to form bands.

A fun little video to watch on the technique: