What are the three stages of a PRC process?

Posted June 22, 2020

DNA and RNA Quantitation

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

Real-Time PCR (qPCR)

Answer

PCR process can be divided into three stages based on reaction progress:

Exponential amplification: The amount of product is doubled at every cycle when DNA polymerase is fully active, and reagents are abundant.
Leveling off stage: Reaction rate slows as the DNA polymerase loses activity and as consumption of reagents.
Plateau: No more product accumulates due to exhaustion of reagents and enzyme.

Additional resources

6-ROX glycine *25 uM fluorescence reference solution for PCR reactions*

Chen, S. C., Halliday, C. L., & Meyer, W. (2002). A review of nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests for systemic mycoses with an emphasis on polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Medical mycology, 40(4), 333-357.

Chuang, L. Y., Cheng, Y. H., & Yang, C. H. (2013). Specific primer design for the polymerase chain reaction. Biotechnology letters, 35(10), 1541-1549.

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