QUANTITATION OF RNA USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

Sequential use of reverse transcriptase and the polymerase chain react ion (RT-PCR) permits rapid and sensitive detection of specific RNAs. H owever, the greatest advantage of RT-PCR, its remarkable sensitivity, has also limited its usefulness in quantitative applications, since th e effects of minor variations in reaction conditions from sample to sa mple are greatly magnified during the amplification process. Several r ecently developed techniques circumvent this problem, allowing accurat e quantitation of RNA using RT-PCR.