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Primers are short oligonucleotides that are important in DNA replication in living cells and also in PCR techniques in molecular biology. PCR has 3 basic steps - denaturation, annealing and extension. Primers are needed in the annealing step. They bind with the template DNA and help Taq polymerase to amplify the strand. The main property of primers is that they must correspond to sequences on the template molecule (must be complementary to template strand). The Criteria for a good primer include the followings -
• Length of 18-24 bases, sometimes 18-30 bases
• 40-60% G/C content
• Start and end with 1-2 G/C pairs
• The presence of G or C bases within the last five bases from the 3' end of primers (GC clamp) helps promote specific binding at the 3' end due to the stronger bonding of G and C bases. More than 3 G's or C's should be avoided in the last 5 bases at the 3' end of the primer .
• Melting temperature (Tm) of 55-65°C, sometimes 55-70°C is also considered
• Primer pairs should have a Tm within 5°C of each other
• Avoid intra-primer homology (more than 3 bases that complement within the primer) or inter-primer homology (forward and reverse primers having complementary sequences). These circumstances can lead to self-dimers or primer-dimers instead of annealing to the desired DNA sequences.
• Try to avoid runs of 4 or more of one base, or dinucleotide repeats (for example, ACCCC or ATATATAT).
• Try to avoid regions of secondary structure and have a balanced distribution of GC-rich and AT-rich domains.
• If you are using the primers for mutagenesis, try to have the mismatched bases towards the middle of the primer.
Link: www.ncbi.nlm.n...
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