Spatiotemporal Regulation of Metal Ions in the Polymerase Chain Reaction.

ABSTRACT: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been widely used in medical diagnosis and forensic identification due to its ultrahigh sensitivity and signal amplification. Metal ions (i.e., Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺) have been considered PCR inhibitors and rarely shown their positive roles in PCR amplification until our report, in which we discovered that metal ions can significantly improve the PCR specificity and the yield of target DNA sequences. For an in-depth investigation with taking copper ions as a typical model, here we found an interesting spatiotemporal regulation mechanism of metal ions in PCR. The ionic concentration window for improving PCR specificity not only was independent of annealing temperature but also can be well regulated by both the annealing time and extension ti

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9494670 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature