Twenty-Five Years of Quantitative PCR for Gene Expression Analysis

Following its invention 25 years ago, PCR has been adapted for numerous molecular biology applications. Gene expression analysis by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) has been a key enabling technology of the post-genome era. Since the founding of BioTechniques, this journal has been a resource for the improvements in qPCR technology, experimental design, and data analysis. qPCR and, more specifically, real-time qPCR has become a routine and robust approach for measuring the expression of genes of interest, validating microarray experiments, and monitoring biomarkers. The use of real-time qPCR has nearly supplanted other approaches (e.g., Northern blotting, RNase protection assays). This review…

• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: DA013770, GM38931 (to K.E.V.), and AG026607 (to W.M.F.)