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[bmlmjone]

I have a set of mtDNA Taqman assays for various animal species and I'm trying to validate them. Because this assay is qualitative, I have not been diluting down the DNA after extraction (from muscle tissue) before PCR. The assay has a good sensitivity (~0.05% target in mixed species tissue). However, some of the assays are giving non-specific amplification at around Ct 30-35.

Could this non-specific amplification be due to running too high concentrations of non-specific DNA?

If I dilute my DNA (to 10ng per rxn for example), am I likely to lose my 0.05% LOD?

Thanks.