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Polymerase chain reaction and its use in obstetrics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Timothy Overton
Affiliation:
Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London, UK.
Antony Lighten
Affiliation:
Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London, UK.
Phillip Bennett*
Affiliation:
Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London, UK.
*
Phillip Bennett, Reader, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, Goldhawk Road, London W6 0XG, UK.

Extract

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is composed of a deoxyribose backbone, the three position (3') of each deoxyribose being linked to the five position (5') of the next by a phosphodiester bond. At the two position each deoxyribose is linked to one of four nucleic acids; the purines adenine or guanine or the pyrimadines thymine or cytosine. Each DNA molecule is made up of two such strands in a double helix with the nucleic acid bases on the inside. The bases pair by hydrogen bonding, adenine (A) with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) with guanine (G). Deoxyribonucleic acid is replicated by separation of the two strands and synthesis by DNA polymerases of new complementary strands. With one notable exception, the reverse transcriptase produced by viruses, DNA polymerases always add new bases at the 3' end of the molecule. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) has a structure similar to that of DNA but is always single stranded. The backbone consists of ribose, and uracil is used in place of thymine.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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