A critical review on PCR, its types and applications

The invention of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been a milestone in the history of biological and medical sciences. The applications of PCR have not only completely revolutionised the research in the field of molecular genetics as well as animal and plant biotechnology¡ but the technique has also proved its relevance and ingenious utility in other fields of forensic sciences¡ molecular systematics¡ molecular epidemiology¡ archaeology¡ anthropology¡ evolutionary genetics¡ etc. as well. The conventional PCR led to the emergence of RT-PCR¡ qPCR and combined RT-PCR/q-PCR. PCR has also enabled the successful completion of the ‘human genome project’ by enabling the amplification and sequencing of the human genes¡ which has further laid the foundation of genetic engineering and has now even made it possible to make useful changes in the genome of an organism. The variants of PCR are now being successfully used in most of the recent advances made in the sciences of modern era.