Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (RACE) is a procedure for amplification of nucleic acid sequences from a messenger RNA template between a defined internal site and either the 3´ or the 5´ end of the mRNA (1). This methodology of amplification with single-sided specificity has been described as “one-sided” PCR (2) or “anchored” PCR (3). PCR requires two sequence-specific primers that flank the sequence to be amplified (4,5). However, to amplify and characterize regions of unknown sequences, this requirement imposes a limitation (3). 3´ RACE takes advantage of the natural poly(A) tail found in mRNA as a generic priming site for PCR. In this procedure, mRNAs are converted into cDNA using reverse transcriptase (RT) and an oligo-dT adapter primer. Specific cDNA is then amplified by PCR using a gene-specific primer (GSP) that anneals to a region of known exon sequences and an adapter primer that targets the poly(A) tail region. This permits the capture of unknown 3´-mRNA sequences that lie between the exon and the poly(A) tail. 5´ RACE uses an antisense gene specific primer for the synthesis of specific cDNA by reverse transcriptase.
Prior to PCR, a TdT-tailing step attaches an adapter sequence to the unknown 5´ sequences of the cDNA. Specific cDNA is then amplified by PCR using a GSP that anneals in a region of known exon sequences and an adapter primer that targets the 5´ terminus. RACE has been used for amplification and cloning of rare mRNAs (6) and may be applied to existing cDNA libraries (7). Additionally, RACE products can be directly sequenced without any intermediate cloning steps (8,9), or the products may be used to prepare probes (10). Products generated by the 3´ and 5´ RACE procedures may be combined to generate full-length cDNAs (10,11). Lastly, the RACE procedures may be utilized in conjunction with exon-trapping methods (12) to enable amplification and subsequent characterization of unknown coding sequences.