Minimal nucleotide for Taq polymerase binding - (Jun/25/2007 )

Dear All,

A very basic question, I would like to know what is the minimal nucleotides that can be used for a PCR primer design ?
or if anyone has experience that using less than 12bp in a primer design ?


Best Regards,


Joseph Chow

according to my understanding the absolute minimal length of a primer is 9bp. In this region, extention is suboptimal and the polymerase aborts frequently. 14bp (or is it 16bp ) is minimal lenght for processive extention. Most people keep the minimal lenght at 18bp.