Technologies based upon the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method will become nearly ubiquitous gold standards of diagnostics of the near future, for several reasons. First, the catalog of infectious agents has grown to the point that virtually all of the significant infectious agents of the human population have been identified. Second, an infectious agent must grow within the human body to cause disease; essentially it must amplify its own nucleic acids in order to cause a disease. This amplification of nucleic acid in infected tissue offers an opportunity to detect the infectious agent by using PCR. Third, the essential tools for directing PCR, primers, are derived from the genomes of infectious agents, and with time those genomes will be known, if they are not already. COUNT 5
QSN1 What does the acronym PCR expand to? ANS1 polymerase chain reaction QSN2 What will be the ubiquitous gold standards of diagnostics in the near future? ANS2 PCR QSN3 What has the catalog of infectious agents grown to the point of? ANS3 virtually all of the significant infectious agents of the human population have been identified QSN4 What must an infectious agent do to cause disease? ANS4 grow within the human body QSN5 What are primers derived from the genomes of? ANS5 infectious agents