The term "RACEPCR" is spelled using the International Phonetic Alphabet as [reɪs pɪ si ɑr], which indicates each letter's pronunciation. "RACEPCR" stands for "Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends Polymerase Chain Reaction," a laboratory technique used for amplifying DNA sequences. The spelling reflects the acronym's meaning, with "RACE" signifying the process of amplifying the molecule end from RNA, "PCR" representing the polymerase chain reaction used to amplify the DNA, and "cDNA" denoting the complementary DNA which is used as a template.
RACEPCR, also known as Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends PCR, is a laboratory technique used to amplify the ends of a specific RNA molecule. It is commonly employed to obtain the full sequence of an RNA transcript when only partial information is available.
RACEPCR begins by converting the RNA molecule of interest into complementary DNA (cDNA) using an enzyme called reverse transcriptase. This process creates a single-stranded cDNA copy of the RNA, which serves as a template for subsequent amplification and analysis.
The RACEPCR technique involves two steps: 5' RACE and 3' RACE. In 5' RACE, a specific primer is designed to target the known internal sequence of the RNA, and a universal primer is used for reverse transcription. This results in the synthesis of cDNA from the 5' end of the RNA. In 3' RACE, a universal primer is used for reverse transcription near the poly(A) tail, followed by amplification from the 3' end of the RNA. The resulting cDNAs from both steps can then be amplified using PCR with gene-specific primers to generate the desired full-length RNA sequence.
RACEPCR is widely used in molecular biology and genomics research to identify and characterize unknown or rare RNA transcripts, including splice variants, long non-coding RNAs, and transcripts with alternative start or end sites. It enables the investigation and understanding of gene expression patterns, biological functions, and disease mechanisms at the molecular level.