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No reverse transcription. Just amplification by extending a primer using DNA polymerase (rtPCR -- reverse transcription PCR -- of RNA does do an initial reve

No reverse transcription. Just amplification by extending a primer using DNA polymerase (rtPCR -- reverse transcription PCR -- of RNA does do an initial reverse transcriptase step.) The PCR process is also used in modern DNA sequencing, but that is not what a PCR machine does. And a non-qPCR machine does not detect the sequence -- it just produces enough of it by amplification so that it can be detected using other methods.

vikramkr 6y ago
No, you can use a thermocycler for reverse transcription. In fact, you need one to do rtPCR, and I don't see why this cycler wouldn't be able to do that. And to clarify, I didn't say the device detects a sequence. I said it lets you detect the presence of a sequence. This isn't a biology forum, so I deliberately didn't go into excessive detail and technicalities, just conveying the information that one of the things you use this for is detecting a DNA sequence (and sure, there are post processing steps like running a gel or sending it off for sanger sequencing etc), and the other sort of thing you can do is RT-PCR. You can also do all sorts of cloning techniques like gibsons. And technically, neither device nor a qPCR machine let you detect a particular sequence exactly. It just amplifies a piece of dna enclosed by the relevant primers that you are using to amplify. I'm well aware of all these technicalities with saying that a thermocycler does sequence detection, I left them out on purpose. And as mentioned before, the pocketPCR, like any other thermocycler, is absolutely capable of doing RT etc. I know the parent comment said "what does a PCR do again?," but it's pretty clear from context and use of the article "a" that they are asking about the pocketPCR machine's capabilities, not about polymerase chain reaction in general. If they were, then yes you are technically correct regarding RT.
- robbiep 6y ago
  This is overly pedantic but you did literally say lets you detect the sequence in a context where the average reader would have parsed the sentence as referring to the capabilities of the device.

vikramkr 6y ago

No, you can use a thermocycler for reverse transcription. In fact, you need one to do rtPCR, and I don't see why this cycler wouldn't be able to do that. And to clarify, I didn't say the device detects a sequence. I said it lets you detect the presence of a sequence. This isn't a biology forum, so I deliberately didn't go into excessive detail and technicalities, just conveying the information that one of the things you use this for is detecting a DNA sequence (and sure, there are post processing steps like running a gel or sending it off for sanger sequencing etc), and the other sort of thing you can do is RT-PCR. You can also do all sorts of cloning techniques like gibsons. And technically, neither device nor a qPCR machine let you detect a particular sequence exactly. It just amplifies a piece of dna enclosed by the relevant primers that you are using to amplify. I'm well aware of all these technicalities with saying that a thermocycler does sequence detection, I left them out on purpose. And as mentioned before, the pocketPCR, like any other thermocycler, is absolutely capable of doing RT etc. I know the parent comment said "what does a PCR do again?," but it's pretty clear from context and use of the article "a" that they are asking about the pocketPCR machine's capabilities, not about polymerase chain reaction in general. If they were, then yes you are technically correct regarding RT.

robbiep 6y ago
This is overly pedantic but you did literally say lets you detect the sequence in a context where the average reader would have parsed the sentence as referring to the capabilities of the device.