This essential manual presents a comprehensive guide to the most up-to-date technologies and applications as well as providing an overview of the theory of this increasingly important technique. This timely and authoritative volume describes the latest PCR platforms, fluorescent chemistries, validation software, data analysis, and internal and external controls and discusses a wide range of RT-PCR applications including: clinical diagnostics, biodefense, RNA expression studies, validation of array data, mutation detection, food authenticity and legislation, NASBA, molecular halotyping, and much more.