Introduction to Kinetic (Real-Time) PCR

Kinetic or real-time PCR continues to develop at a rapid rate since its development in the early 1990s. New applications are continually being found for this technique and it is replacing conventional PCR in many fields because of its speed, reduced hands-on time, and because the closed-tube format greatly reduces the chance of reaction contamination. This chapter covers the basis of kinetic PCR and also discusses some of the parameters that need to be considered even before the actual amplification—such as nucleic acid extraction and the complementary DNA synthesis step required in the instance of gene expression studies.