COVID-19 PCR Testing

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for covid-19

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is a testing method used to analyze short sequences of DNA or RNA with only minimal amounts of a sample collected. What are nucleic acids? Nucleic acids are the basic building blocks of life, they are bio-polymers, or small bio-molecules, essential to all known forms of life on Earth (Maybe on Mars too, more to come on that in the future). DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid) and RNA (RiboNucleic Acid) are both composed of nucleotides. Nucleotides are monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base which can be either Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, or Thymine in DNA and in the case of RNA, Thymine is replaced by Uracil. Okay back to the PCR test, The PCR test uses small amounts of DNA or RNA from a sample collected to amplify selected sections of the nucleic acids either in DNA or RNA. The PCR test is done in test tubes in labs, and it can take a few hours to complete depending on the testing capabilities of the machine that is processing the samples. The Conventional PCR test is used to detect the presence or absence of certain genomic fragments, whereas Reverse Transcription (RT) PCR allows the use of RNA as a template. An additional step allows the detection and amplification of RNA.

Polymerase Chain Reaction Osmosis video