TheDNAFacilityhousesthe“real-time”orkineticPCRinstrument,theAppliedBiosystemsModel7700sequencedetectionsystem(theTaqManinstrument).Thepolymerasechainreaction(PCR)hasrevolutionizedthedetectionofDNAandRNA.Aslittleasasinglecopyofaparticularsequencecanbespecificallyamplifiedanddetected.Theoretically,thereisaquantitativerelationshipbetweenamountofstartingtargetsequenceandamountofPCRproductatanygivencycle.Inpractice,though,itisacommonexperienceforreplicatereactionstoyielddifferentamountsofPCRproduct.Thedevelopmentofreal-timequantitativePCRhaseliminatedthevariABIlitytrADItionallyassociatedwithquantitativePCR,thusallowingtheroutineandreliablequantificationofPCRproducts.Thisinstrument,therefore,nowprovidesinvestigatorswiththeabilitytoperformverysensitive,accurate,andreproducIBLemeasurementsoflevelsofgeneexpression.Inaddition,thisinstrumentcanbeusedinotherapplicationssuchasmeasuringviralload,performingallelicdiscriminationstudies,andoptimizingPCRconditions.
