What is DNA linear amplification?
Amplification of DNA is a method that takes template DNA and makes many copies of it. PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is one prime example. However, methods such as PCR are exponential amplification methods, meaning that the number of copies made of the template DNA increases at an exponential rate. For example, in an ideal PCR reaction with 30 cycles, 2 copies of template DNA will yield 230 or 1,073,741,824 copies. This is to distinguish exponential amplification from linear amplification, where the number of copies made of the DNA template increases at a linear rate. For example, in an ideal 4 hour linear amplification reaction whose copying rate is 2000 copies per minute, 2000 copies of template DNA will yield 960,000,000 copies.
