Nicking Enzyme Amplification Reaction (NEAR) is a method for in vitro DNA amplification like the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). NEAR is isothermal, replicating DNA at a constant temperature using a polymerase (and nicking enzyme) to exponentially amplify the DNA at a temperature range of 55 °C to 59 °C.
The disadvantage of PCR is that it consumes a lot of time with uncoiling the double-stranded DNA with heat into single strands (a process called denaturation) and copying the single strands to create new double-stranded DNA (synthesis). This leads to amplification times typically thirty minutes or more for significant production of amplified products.
The advantages of NEAR over PCR are increased speed, reduced costs, lower energy requirements and the ability to perform the reaction in the field. The disadvantage of NEAR to PCR is that background production is a common issue with reactions due to the infancy of the technology.