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PCR --polymerase chain reaction
"PCR is an acronym which stands for polymerase chain reaction. The PCR technique is basically a primer extension reaction for amplifying specific nucleic acids in vitro. The use of a thermostable polymerase allows the dissociation of newly formed complimentary DNA and subsequent annealling or hybridization of primers to the target sequence with minimal loss of enzymatic activity.PCR will allow a short stretch of DNA (usually fewer than 3000 bp) to be amplified to about a million fold so that one can determine its size, nucleotide sequence, etc. The particular stretch of DNA to be amplified, called the target sequence, is identified by a specific pair of DNA primers, oligonucleotides usually about 20 nucleotides in length.
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