Health & biology · 1983

PCR

The polymerase chain reaction copies a DNA segment a billionfold in hours.

Kary Mullis and Fred Faloona first demonstrated PCR at Cetus in December 1983. The first paper appeared in 1985, and heat-stable Taq polymerase enabled automation by 1988. It underpins genetic testing, forensics, sequencing and COVID-19 diagnosis.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia Source

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Sanger DNA sequencing 1977

What it led to 2

Human Genome Project 2003
Next-generation sequencing 2005

Watch

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)DNA Learning Center · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Cost to sequence a human genome Latest: 525 $ (2022) Source: Our World in Data