cDNA amplification using one-sided (anchored) PCR

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offers an opportunity to directly select, amplify, and isolate a message of interest. This unit describes anchored PCR, a modification of the standard reaction that allows amplification of full-length mRNA when only a small amount of sequence information is available. Anchored PCR can be employed when only a small region of sequence lying within the mRNA is known in advance, unlike the amplification of RNA or cDNA by conventional PCR which requires prior knowledge of the sequences flanking the region of interest to design the PCR primers.