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Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH Descriptor Data 2023


MeSH Heading
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Tree Number(s)
E05.393.620.500
Unique ID
D016133
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D016133
Scope Note
In vitro method for producing large amounts of specific DNA or RNA fragments of defined length and sequence from small amounts of short oligonucleotide flanking sequences (primers). The essential steps include thermal denaturation of the double-stranded target molecules, annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences, and extension of the annealed primers by enzymatic synthesis with DNA polymerase. The reaction is efficient, specific, and extremely sensitive. Uses for the reaction include disease diagnosis, detection of difficult-to-isolate pathogens, mutation analysis, genetic testing, DNA sequencing, and analyzing evolutionary relationships.
Entry Term(s)
Anchored PCR
Anchored Polymerase Chain Reaction
Inverse PCR
Inverse Polymerase Chain Reaction
Nested PCR
Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction
PCR
NLM Classification #
QU 550.5.P6
Previous Indexing
Gene Amplification (1988-1989)
See Also
Ligase Chain Reaction
Sequence Tagged Sites
Public MeSH Note
91; was see under GENE AMPLIFICATION 1990
History Note
91(90); was see under GENE AMPLIFICATION 1990
Date Established
1991/01/01
Date of Entry
1990/01/11
Revision Date
2011/06/24
Polymerase Chain Reaction Preferred
Inverse PCR Narrower
Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction Narrower
Anchored PCR Narrower
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