Question

The possibility of magnifying contaminating sequences present in a nucleic acid pool is a drawback associated with PCRs high level of sensitivity (i.e., potential for exponential amplification).

A. True
B. False

Answer 1

True

Step-by-step explanation:

The Polymerase Chain reaction (PCR) is a technique widely used in molecular biology to identify specific DNA fragments generally in a size range of 100 to 1000 base pairs (bp). PCR sensitivity refers to the potential of the PCR technique to specifically amplify the desired sequence in the sample. PCR is a highly sensitive (and also specific) method with values around 100% if the experimental conditions are proper. However, to reach these values, it is imperative to work in optimal conditions by eliminating contaminant factors in the sample which may alter PCR amplification.