The most commonly used nucleic acid reagents are: 1. Polymerases, such as Taq polymerase, for DNA amplification 2. Nucleotides, including deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs) and ribonucleotides (rNTPs), for DNA and RNA synthesis 3. Reverse transcriptase, for converting RNA into complementary DNA (cDNA) 4. Ligases, for joining DNA fragments 5. Restriction enzymes, for cutting DNA at specific sites 6. Fluorescent dyes and probes, for detection of nucleic acids 7. Hybridization probes, such as TaqMan probes, for real-time PCR quantitation of nucleic acids. 8. Inhibitors, such as RNase inhibitors, for preventing degradation of nucleic acids 9. Buffers and salts, for optimizing reaction conditions 10. Agarose and acrylamide gels, for visualization and purification of nucleic acids.