title: A general model of error-prone PCR.
abstract: In this paper, we generalize a previously-described model of the error-prone polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reaction to conditions of arbitrarily variable amplification efficiency and initial population size. Generalisation of the model to these conditions improves the correspondence to observed and expected behaviours of PCR, and restricts the extent to which the model may explore sequence space for a prescribed set of parameters. Error-prone PCR in realistic reaction conditions is predicted to be less effective at generating grossly divergent sequences than the original model. The estimate of mutation rate per cycle by sampling sequences from an in vitro PCR experiment is correspondingly affected by the choice of model and parameters.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DD, Wales, UK. l.pritchard@scri.sari.ac.uk
authors.forename: Leighton
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pritchard
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corne
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kell
authors.forename: Jem
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rowland
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity