Question

A vial with 10 microlitres of PCR mix has 100 template DNA molecules. The polymerase chain reaction was performed for 10 cycles. How many molecules of amplicons will be generated?

• A. 10
• B. 102400
• C. 1024
• D. 100

Answer 1

The correct option is B 102400

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a technique used to amplify and generate multiple copies of a desired DNA strand.
A single PCR cycle can double the number of the strands.
The number of amplicons for n number of cycles by a single template is $2^n$.

Given,
Number of PCR cycles = 10
Number of templates = 100
Therefore, the total number of amplicons after 10 cycles from 100 templates = $2^n$$\times$ 100
= $2^{10}$$\times$ 100
= 102400