Real time RT-PCR (reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction) is now one of the most accurate laboratory methods for detecting, tracking, and studying the coronavirus.
RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus. In order for a virus like the coronavirus to be detected early in the body, using real time RT-PCR, scientists need to convert the RNA to DNA.
This is a process called ‘reverse transcription’. They do this because only DNA can be copied – or amplified – which is a key part of the real time RT-PCR process for detecting viruses.
Scientists amplify a specific part of the transcribed viral DNA hundreds of thousands of times. By this amplification, instead of trying to spot a minuscule amount of the virus among millions of strands of genetic information, scientists have a large enough quantity of the target sections of viral DNA. This facilitates in the accurate confirmation that the virus is present.