Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a laboratory technique used to amplify and detect RNA. It involves two main steps: reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 1. **Reverse Transcription**: In this first step, the enzyme reverse transcriptase is used to convert RNA into complementary DNA (cDNA). This is crucial because standard PCR requires DNA as a template, while many studies target RNA (such as mRNA, viral RNA, etc.).