Question

Pick the wrong one out regarding the advantages of PCR.

• A. Rapid and easy to perform
• B. Sensitive and amplification of DNA from minute samples is possible
• C. Robust, making it possible to amplify DNA from degraded samples
• D. Prior sequence knowledge is not needed

Answer 1

The correct option is D Prior sequence knowledge is not needed

Polymerase chain reaction or PCR was invented in 1985 by Kary Mullis, which has many groundbreaking and life-saving applications. The rapid speed of the amplification and generating multiple copies of the desired DNA has made genetic engineering and biotechnology much easier to deal even with minute samples of the genetic material of a cell. Even a microgram of DNA from a degraded sample provided with all other reaction supplements can amplify into a billion copies. This easy, simple and fast process of duplicating and copying DNA in numbers made this biotechnique a ubiquitous laboratory tool.
This technique of copying the genetic material in vitro, so fast so precisely has very few disadvantages.
One important disadvantage is- prior knowledge of the sequence. Without knowing the sequence of the DNA, the complementary primers cannot be designed, and hence this technique cannot be performed for an unknown DNA sequence, which is a drawback of this widely used tool.