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John M. S. Bartlett.pdf - Bio-Nica.info

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PCR Primer Design 81<br />

19<br />

PCR Primer Design<br />

David L. Hyndman and Masato Mitsuhashi<br />

1. Introduction<br />

The selection of primers for a given polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can determine<br />

the efficiency and specificity of the PCR. Although in many cases successful PCR<br />

primers have been selected with little understanding of the principles involved, PCR<br />

can often only be achieved by using primers that are designed appropriately. Here,<br />

we give general recommendations for PCR primer selection and various aspects to be<br />

considered when designing primers.<br />

2. General Primer Considerations<br />

2.1. Location<br />

The location of PCR primers is sometimes dictated by the purpose of the experiment.<br />

If the experiment is simply intended to identify the presence or absence of the sequence,<br />

then the location is of no consequence, so long as the amplification works well. If,<br />

however, the experiment is part of an assay for a particular allele of a gene, then the<br />

amplicon would be required to contain that region of interest.<br />

2.2. Amplicon Size<br />

In general, amplicons are from 100 to 1000 bp in length. The lower limit is caused<br />

by the typical need to be able to visualize the amplicon on an agarose gel. The upper<br />

limit of 1000 bp is the result of difficulties in amplifying large sequences. If an assay<br />

that does not require a minimum amplicon size is used, there is no theoretical minimum<br />

amplicon size.<br />

2.3. Guanine/Cytosine (G/C) Content<br />

Defined as the proportion of bases in the primer that are either G (guanine) or<br />

C (cytosine), good PCR primers are generally selected to have a G/C content between<br />

40 and 60%. However, there is no well-defined reason for this, only that it has been<br />

considered preferable.<br />

3. Considerations for Optimal PCR<br />

The issues concerning PCR primer design can be divided into two categories:<br />

efficiency and specificity. Both of these are important to consider in most applications,<br />

but often the factors that promote one of these will adversely affect the other.<br />

From: Methods in Molecular <strong>Bio</strong>logy, Vol. 226: PCR Protocols, Second Edition<br />

Edited by: J. M. S. <strong>Bartlett</strong> and D. Stirling © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ<br />

81

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