In: Biology
The answer to the question is no. RT PCR will not help us to determine the amount of protein at a given time in the cell.
RT PCR is short for reverse transcriptase polymerase Chain Reaction. It is used for determination of amount of RNA present in the cell at a given time. So we can quantify the amount of RNA present in the cell. But as we know that all the RNA is not translated into proteins. So we cannot determine the exact amount of proteins present in the cell.
Although if we assume that all the RNA is translated into proteins, then we can get a rough idea of the amount of proteins. This will be the maximum concentration of proteins and in reality, the concentration of protein in the cell will be less.
The reverse transcriptase PCR works upon the principle that first or complementary DNA copy of the RNA is synthesized using enzyme reverse transcriptase and the process is called as reverse transcription. Next the amount of RNA present in the cell is quantified in real time using fluorescent dye.
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