Gene amplification
Gene amplification refers to a number of natural and artificial processes by which the number of copies of a gene is increased "without a proportional increase in other genes".[1]
Artificial DNA amplification for research or diagnosis can be conducted through methods including:
- Polymerase chain reaction, an easy, cheap, and reliable way to repeatedly replicate a focused segment of DNA by polymerizing nucleotides, a concept which is applicable to numerous fields in modern biology and related sciences.[2]
- Ligase chain reaction, a method that amplifies the nucleic acid used as the probe. For each of the two DNA strands, two partial probes are ligated to form the actual one; thus, LCR uses two enzymes: a DNA polymerase (used for initial template amplification and then inactivated) and a thermostable DNA ligase.[3]
- Transcription-mediated amplification, an isothermal, single-tube nucleic acid amplification system utilizing two enzymes, RNA polymerase and reverse transcriptase, to rapidly amplify the target RNA/DNA, enabling the simultaneous detection of multiple pathogenic organisms in a single tube.
In natural DNA replication, a natural form of copying DNA, gene amplification can occur through gene duplication, a major mechanism through which new genetic material is generated during molecular evolution. Common sources of gene duplications include ectopic recombination, retrotransposition event, aneuploidy, polyploidy, and replication slippage.[4]
A piece of DNA or RNA that is the source and/or product of either natural or artificial amplification or replication events is called an amplicon.[5]
References
- ↑ "Gene amplification - Latest research and news - Nature". www.nature.com.
- ↑ "PCR". Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah.
- ↑ Wiedmann, M (February 1994). "Ligase chain reaction (LCR) -- Overview and applications". PCR Methods and Applications. 3: S51–64. doi:10.1101/gr.3.4.s51. PMID 8173509. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ Zhang J (2003). "Evolution by gene duplication: an update". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 18 (6): 292–8. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00033-8.
- ↑ Graham Dellaire, Jason N Berman, Robert J. Arceci, eds., Cancer Genomics: From Bench to Personalized Medicine (2014), p. 205.