PCR Mixes and Kits

Commercial PCR kits are available, ready-to-use, and optimized for specific conditions to help take the guesswork out of research. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), where DNA is amplified exponentially, is a standard yet powerful tool in the molecular biologist’s toolkit. Many kits have been developed that utilize PCR or PCR-based techniques, including quantitative PCR (also known as qPCR or real-time PCR), reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), and quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). These convenient kits generally include all the basic ingredients needed for a successful PCR reaction, such as polymerase, deoxynucleotides (dNTPs), buffer, and magnesium chloride. For PCR detection or assay kits, sequence-specific primer sets are generally included. These kits can serve as useful tools in applications such as template amplification for sequencing and cloning, library generation, forensic identification, mutagenesis, expression profiling and amplification of numerous targets at one time (multiplexing). PCR kits are optimized for specific conditions to help take the guesswork out of research. In choosing an appropriate PCR kits it is important to consider the PCR platform in use, the desired fidelity, read length vs. turnaround time, and the downstream application. As PCR can be a challenging complex process, it is important to work with a vendor with excellent, readily available technical support.