pcr amplification
A glossary of PCR terms
Plan a PCR by defining amplicon, Tm, Ta, hot-start, plateau, master mix, NTC, inhibition, fidelity and multiplex before you mix.
8 October 2026 · 9 min read
Topic cluster
PCR and amplification
How endpoint PCR, qPCR and isothermal methods work, including primers, controls, contamination and how to read a result.
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26 articles
pcr amplification
Choosing an annealing temperature
Why annealing temperature is not the Tm printed on a tube, and how salt, magnesium, additives, and a short gradient locate the real window.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
Cleaning an amplicon before sequencing
Choose a column, bead or gel cleanup so leftover primers and dNTPs do not wreck the sequencing read you are about to request.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
pcr amplification
Colony PCR for screening clones
Screen colonies with flanking or insert primers, a lysis step, an empty-vector colony, and a no-template control. A band is not a sequence.
8 October 2026 · 9 min read
pcr amplification
Digital PCR partitions and precision
Choose digital PCR when you need a presence count from partitions, and see why that precision tracks partition number and the rare-event fraction.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
Endpoint PCR compared with qPCR
Trace the failure when endpoint band brightness is treated as a quantity, or a qPCR Cq is used with no standard and no reference-gene plan.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
Extension time and amplicon length
Match extension time to amplicon length, see why a short hold leaves partial products, and why a final extension cannot repair that miss.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
Hot-start polymerases and primer-dimers
How a heat-released hot-start block limits extension during setup, and how a short no-template product on a gel is read as primer-dimer.
8 October 2026 · 9 min read
Pillar · pcr amplification
How polymerase chain reaction works
How PCR copies a chosen DNA segment: the temperature cycle, reagents, controls and what a band on a gel does and does not prove.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
How to read a published PCR protocol
Pull enzyme class, buffer, Tm method, cycles and template mass from a published PCR protocol, then mark what you must re-validate.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
pcr amplification
Inhibition of PCR by sample contaminants
Separate a true PCR negative from a dead tube when heme, humic acids, ethanol, guanidine, heparin, bile salts or excess DNA may be present.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
pcr amplification
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification overview
Compare loop-mediated isothermal amplification with endpoint PCR on equipment, primer count and what a positive signal means before you choose.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read