Understanding PCR

This video explains how a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) works and discusses some of the common issues to think about when designing a PCR experiment. 0:00 Introduction to DNA sequences 5:55 Choosing a region of DNA to amplify 8:13 The Thermal Cycling reaction (denaturation, annealing and extension) 13:15 Understanding each round of the PCR reaction doubles the amount of DNA made 18:07 How to estimate primer annealing temperatures 21:22 Achieving DNA binding specificity 26:50 Working through a Thermal Cycling program - the importance of the annealing step 32:16 The problem of primer dimers 34:30 The use of a GC clamp on the 3’ end of a primer