RACE can provide the sequence of an RNA transcript from a small known sequence within the transcript to the 5' end (5' RACE-PCR) or 3' end (3' RACE-PCR) of the RNA
The first step in RACE is to use reverse transcription to produce a cDNA copy of a region of the RNA transcript. In this process, an unknown end portion of a transcript is copied using a known sequence from the center of the transcript. The copied region is bounded by the known sequence, and either the 5' or 3' end.