logo
Products
Services
Resources
Selection Guides
About
How do I choose primers for PCR?
Posted June 22, 2020
PCRPCR primerPolymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
Answer
Primers are necessary when running a PCR reaction, which should generally have the following properties:
  1. Length of 18-24 bases.
  2. 40-60% G/C content.
  3. Start and end with 1-2 G/C pairs.
  4. Melting temperature (Tm) of 50-60°C.
  5. Primer pairs should have similar Tm, within 5°C of each other.
  6. Primer pairs should not have complementary regions.
Additional resources
6-ROX glycine *25 uM fluorescence reference solution for PCR reactions*Chen, S. C., Halliday, C. L., & Meyer, W. (2002). A review of nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests for systemic mycoses with an emphasis on polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Medical mycology, 40(4), 333-357.Chuang, L. Y., Cheng, Y. H., & Yang, C. H. (2013). Specific primer design for the polymerase chain reaction. Biotechnology letters, 35(10), 1541-1549.

Why should primers used in PCR have similar melting temperatures?Should PCR primers be complementary to each other?What are PCR primers?Why are 2 primers needed for PCR?Why does PCR reaction require a primer?