Can BSA help PCR? - (Apr/11/2005 )

is anybody add BSA when doing PCR?
I tried before, it seemed a little better. I wondering how many people will use it to do PCR, and is there any other affect caused by BSA to PCR?

Many thanks.

S

BSA will coat the tube walls, preventing the template from being absorbed. This will reduce the frequency of primer dimers that occurs when the template concentration is low. BSA is also used to reduce the inhibition caused by humic acid contaminants.

Thank you very much for replying.

Is there any negative effect of BSA to PCR? did any one have such experience?

Hi Freshman-UK,

With regards to additives to PCR such as BSA, glycerol, DMSO, PEG etc. I find what works for one PCR reaction does not work for another. Therefore in some cases addition of BSA will result in loss of specific target amplification however others it will result in promotion of amplification and therefore should be determined individually.

However, having said that I NEVER go over 0.8ug/ul final concentration of BSA as high concentrations will inhibit the reaction.

Cheers,

Scott