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Nucleic acid replication processors that perform nucleic amplification (replication) following a thermal cycle. The most commonly used procedure is polymerase chain reaction, which is performed in a vial containing the template molecule (the DNA or RNA to be copied) and two primer molecules to start the copying process. The primers are short chains of the four different chemical components that make up any strand of genetic material. In the first part of the process, the two DNA chains in the double helix are separated at about 90 degrees Celcius (C) (195 degrees Farenheit (F)). The vial is cooled to 55 degrees C (131 degrees F) to bind (anneal) the primers to the end of the DNA strands. In the final step of the reaction a complete copy of the templates is made at around 75 degrees C (158 degrees F). The three steps take less than two minutes. At the end of the cycle, each piece of DNA in the vial has been duplicated. Repeating the process 30 or more times may yield more than one billion copies.
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