Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A New Algorithm For Primer Design, Debanjan Guha Roy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology is widely used to create DNA copies. It has impacted many diverse fields including genetics, forensics, molecular paleontology, medical applications and environmental microbiology.

The main object in PCR is a primer, a short single strand of DNA, about 18-25 bases long, that serves as the starting point of DNA synthesis. Primers are essential for DNA replication because the enzymes that catalyze this process, DNA polymerases, can only add new nucleotides to an existing strand of DNA. The PCR starts at the 3’-end of the primer and copies the opposite strand.Designing good primers is essential …