RT-PCR

RT-PCR is short for reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. It is a technique in which an RNA strand is transcribed into a DNA complement to be able to subject it to PCR amplification. Transcribing an RNA strand into a DNA complement is termed reverse transcription and is done by the enzyme reverse transcriptase.

It is an important technique in the diagnosis of genetic diseases. It is specially useful when the disease affects the function of the cell at the level of post transcription modifications or gene expression regulation.