Final answer:
The melting temperature (Tm) of a primer in PCR is the temperature at which the primer dissociates from its complementary target. It is important because primers anneal to the target sequence at 3 to 5 degrees below the Tm. The Tm can be calculated using specific formulas depending on the length of the primer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The melting temperature (Tm) of a primer in PCR is the temperature at which the primer dissociates from its complementary target. It is an important parameter to consider because annealing of the primers to the target sequence occurs 3 to 5 degrees below the calculated Tm. The Tm can be calculated using the formula Tm = (4 x G + 2 x C) + (2 x A + 2 x T). For primers less than 21 bases in length, the Tm can be approximated using the formula Tm = 2 x (A+T) + 4 x (G+C).