Biochemistry 4th Edition by Christopher Mathews,Kensal van Holde, Dean Appling, Spencer Anthony Cahill

Exercise 1

The exponential nature of PCR allows spectacular increases in the abundance of a DNA sequence being amplified. Consider a 10-kbp DNA sequence in a genome of 10 10 base pairs. What fraction of the genome is represented by this sequence; i.e., what is the fractional abundance of this sequence in this genome Calculate the fractional abundance of this target sequence after 10, 15, and 20 cycles of PCR, starting with DNA representing the whole genome and assuming that no other sequences in the genome undergo amplification in the process.