Development and Application of Real-Time Quantitative PCR

Since the original description of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), novel applications of this technique have been reported at an exponential rate. The power of the method lies in the ability to analyze minute amounts of samples (e. g., dried blood, microliters of liquid, several cells) or even to detect a single molecule. Virtually every area of biological science has been impacted by PCR, including forensics, genetics, clinical diagnostics, drug discovery, and environmental biology.