Synonym: polymerase chain reaction

A procedure that produces millions of copies of a short segment of DNA through repeated cycles of: (1) denaturation, (2) annealing, and (3) elongation. PCR is commonly used either: (a) to generate a sufficient quantity of DNA to perform a test (e.g., sequence analysis); or (b) as a test in and of itself (e.g., allele-specific amplification, trinucleotide repeat quantification).

Related terms: quantitative PCR; sequence analysis; targeted analysis for pathogenic variants; X-chromosome inactivation