Editing Reverse transcriptase (section)

=== Molecular biology ===
{{further|Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction}}
Reverse transcriptase is commonly used in research to apply the [[polymerase chain reaction]] technique to [[RNA]] in a technique called [[reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction]] (RT-PCR).  The classical [[polymerase chain reaction|PCR]] technique can be applied only to [[DNA]] strands, but, with the help of reverse transcriptase, RNA can be transcribed into DNA, thus making [[Polymerase chain reaction|PCR]] analysis of RNA molecules possible. Reverse transcriptase is used also to create [[cDNA library|cDNA libraries]] from [[mRNA]]. The commercial availability of reverse transcriptase greatly improved knowledge in the area of molecular biology, as, along with other [[enzymes]], it allowed scientists to clone, sequence, and characterise RNA.{{cn|date=November 2024}}