A
real-time polymerase chain reaction is a
laboratory technique of
molecular biology based on the
polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It monitors the amplification of a targeted
DNA molecule during the PCR, i.e. in real-time, and not at its end, as in conventional PCR. Real-time PCR can be used quantitatively (Quantitative real-time PCR), semi-quantitatively, i.e. above/below a certain amount of DNA molecules (Semi quantitative real-time PCR) or qualitatively (Qualitative real-time PCR).