title: 5'-degenerate 3'-dideoxy-terminated competitors of PCR primers increase specificity of amplification.
abstract: Amplification of a product in PCR with specific primers may be viewed as an artificial Darwinian-type "selection of the fittest". In other selective systems, such as general evolution, immune system and probably brain cortex, the stringency of selection is not absolute but rather degenerate, with selection of many highly fit units, not limited, however, to only the fittest. In PCR also, annealing of the primers is not absolutely specific. The subsequent amplification frequently leads to amplification of not only the desired product but also to less-specific sequences. Using theoretical analysis of the degenerate mode of selection, we predict theoretically and prove experimentally that 5'-degenerate, 3'-dideoxy-terminated competitors of PCR primers can be used to dramatically improve the specificity of PCR amplification without affecting the quantitation of the final specific product.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Medicine, VA Medical Center, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Atamas
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Luzina
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Handwerger
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001667:Binding, Competitive / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000378:metabolism*; D006150:Guanine Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D013942:Thymine Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D006150:Guanine Nucleotides; D013942:Thymine Nucleotides; D016753:Interleukin-10