Aileen Constans | Sep 3, 2000 | 9 min read
Reverse Transcriptases Commonly Used for RT-PCR Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR)--a method for assessing gene expression, detecting low copy number mRNA transcripts, and generating complementary DNAs (cDNAs) for cloning--converts an RNA template to its DNA counterpart with a reverse transcriptase enzyme. The cDNA is then amplified by PCR. Although the technique appears relatively painless, researchers using RT-PCR may encounter several pitfalls. For instance, reverse transcribing long mRNA te