Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is a DNA-copying method used in Biological Anthropology when you need to amplify one specific segment of DNA from a very small sample. Instead of trying to work with all the DNA in a cell or bone fragment at once, PCR targets one region and makes enough copies for analysis.
\nThe process depends on repeated temperature changes. First, the DNA is heated so the two strands separate, which is called denaturation. Then short primers bind, or anneal, to sequences on either side of the target region. After that, DNA polymerase extends from the primers and builds new complementary strands.
\nThat cycle happens again and again, usually 20 to 40 times. Each round doubles the amount of target DNA, so the amount grows very fast. A tiny starting sample can become millions of copies, which is why PCR is so useful when the DNA is scarce, damaged, or mixed with lots of other biological material.
\nIn Biological Anthropology, this matters because researchers often work with old bones, teeth, hair, or environmental samples that do not contain much intact DNA. Ancient DNA is often fragmented, so PCR is one way to focus on a small region that can still be copied. The method does not create the original DNA sample out of nowhere, it only multiplies the part already present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is a DNA-copying method used in Biological Anthropology when you need to am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1907,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions\/1907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shinichikushima.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}