Not-Quite-Nested PCR - (Nov/29/2010 )

I hereby publish my half-baked idea for improving PCR specificity using three primers, instead of four, potentially saving labs millions of ££££!

My idea is that you have your regular primers, right? But then, as well, you have a third primer, a short distance outside one of your others. Then you can use the additional primer with the appropriate other primer to do your outside-ish PCR. Then you do your inside-ish PCR using one of the same primers as in the first reaction plus the other one. You get it? Here's a diagram to illustrate.


(primer 1)
------------------------------------------------
(primer 2) (primer 3)

It wont necessarily give the full specificity of nested PCR, but in many cases it might.

Acknowledgements: None! I came up with it myself!

Go ahead and peer-review it!

This is called semi-nested PCR, and is already a known technique. But keep thinking -- it's a good habit to get into!

Oh. Well thanks.