聚合酶鏈反應(polymerase chain reaction, PCR) 於分子生物學上已被視為偵測核酸的標準方法，且為實驗室中不可或缺的研究工具，而即時聚合酶鏈反應(real-time PCR)為應用PCR原理新開發的技術。目前主要有五種螢光物質使用於real-time PCR中以即時偵測PCR產物，包括DNA-binding fluorophores、adjacent linear oligoprobes、5' nuclease oligoprobes、hairpin oligoprobes及self-fluorescing amplicons，這些螢光物質使real-time PCR能被更廣泛的應用，至目前在病毒學上應用real-time PCR之文獻已超過五百篇，由文獻顯示real-time PCR於病毒學上之應用包括有核酸與病毒的定量分析、病毒量與疾病病程或與疾病治療依據關係的探討、病毒核酸變異的研究與病毒血清型別的偵測等等，文獻指出real-time PCR具有快速、低交互污染、高再現性、高敏感性與特一性且具有定量功能等優點，故real-time PCR即為分子生物學與病毒學研究之利器。

參考文獻

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