About: Template-switching polymerase chain reaction

Template-switching polymerase chain reaction (TS-PCR) is a method of reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification that relies on a natural PCR primer sequence at the polyadenylation site, also known as the poly(A) tail, and adds a second primer through the activity of murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase. This permits reading full cDNA sequences and can deliver high yield from single sources, even single cells that contain 10 to 30 picograms of mRNA, with relatively low levels (3-5%) of contaminating rRNA sequence. This technique is often employed in whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing. It is marketed by Clontech as Switching Mechanism At the 5' end of RNA Template (SMART) as well as by as Capture and Amplification by Tailing and Switching (CATS).