How Do You Design A PCR Primer?
According to the University of Wisconsin’s BioWeb website, a PCR primer is a short, synthetic oligonucleotide (usually between 18 to 25 bases long) used to amplify specific regions of DNA in a molecular biology technique known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Both a forward and reverse primer are needed, designed to be reverse complements of the DNA strand, to flank and bind to the desired DNA region. When scientists want to perform research on a specific gene or region of DNA, they first need to perform PCR to acquire enough of the target region to work with. Designing primer sequences for the region of interest may be necessary if they are not already available through previously published research or by commercial means. Obtain the nucleotide sequence of the gene or DNA region of interest and decide how long a fragment you wish to amplify. The forward and reverse primer is designed to bind at the beginning and at the end of the desired fragment. Typically, conventional PCR method
