title: Pitfalls in PCR troubleshooting: Expect the unexpected?
abstract: PCR is a well-understood and established laboratory technique often used in molecular diagnostics. Huge experience has been accumulated over the last years regarding the design of PCR assays and their set-up, including in-depth troubleshooting to obtain the optimal PCR assay for each purpose. Here we report a PCR troubleshooting that came up with a surprising result never observed before. With this report we hope to sensitize the reader to this peculiar problem and to save troubleshooting efforts in similar situations, especially in time-critical and ambitious diagnostic settings.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens 1, Highly Pathogenic Viruses, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schrick
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens 1, Highly Pathogenic Viruses, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nitsche
keywords: PCR; PCR diagnostic; RT-PCR; Reaction mix; Real-time PCR; Troubleshooting