Biology: Concepts and Investigations 2nd Edition by Mariëlle Hoefnagels

Exercise 12

To diagnose encephalitis (brain inflammation) caused by West Nile virus infection, a researcher needs a million copies of a viral gene. She decides to use PCR on a sample of cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the person's infected brain. If one cycle of PCR takes 2 minutes, how long will it take the researcher to obtain her million-fold amplification if she starts with a single copy of the viral gene?