Detection limits of several commercial reverse transcriptase enzymes: impact on the low- and high-abundance transcript levels assessed by quantitative RT-PCR.

Background: In functional genomics, transcript measurement is of fundamental importance. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays are the most popular technology and depend on the initial molecular step, the reverse transcription (RT). This study provides a complex overview of the influence of elements such as RT systems, amount of background RNA, and transcript abundance on the efficiency of qRT-PCR.