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This page assumes familiarity with the terms and components used in the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process.
The versatility of PCR has led to a large number of variants:
Contents
Basic modifications
Pretreatments and extensions
Buffer and temperature modifications
Primer modifications
Polymerase modifications
Mechanism modifications
Isothermal amplification methods
Additional reading
References
Often only a small modification needs to be made to the 'standard' PCR protocol to achieve a desired goal:
One of the first adjustments made to PCR was the amplification of more than one target in a single tube. Multiplex-PCR can involve up to a dozen pairs of primers acting independently. This modification might be used simply to avoid having to prepare many individual reactions, or could allow the simultaneous analysis of multiple targets in a sample that has only a single copy of a genome. In testing for genetic disease mutations, six or more amplifications might be combined. In the standard protocol for DNA Fingerprinting, the 13 targets assayed are often amplified in groups of 3 or 4. Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (or MLPA) permits multiple targets to be amplified using only a single pair or primers, avoiding the resolution limitations of multiplex PCR.
