The Introduction for PCR

Bioinformatics is a newly-emerged inter-disciplinary research area spanning a range of specialties that include molecular biology, biophysics, computer science, mathematics and statistics. It makes use of scientific and technological advances in the areas of computer science, information technology and communication technology to solve complex problems in life sciences, particularly problems in biotechnology. Bioinformatics comprises of the development and application of algorithms for the analysis and interpretation of data, for the design and construction of vital databases, and for the design of experiments.

Bioinformatics is used interchangeably with the terms biocomputing and computational biology. However, biocomputing is more correctly defined as the systematic development and application of computing systems and computational solution techniques to model biological phenomena. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one such phenomenon. PCR is used for the in vitro amplification of DNA at the logarithmic scale. Various components of the PCR reaction such as Taq DNA polymerase, assay buffer, deoxynucleoside triphosphates, stabilizing agents, and primers make it possible for the DNA template to be amplified sufficiently in vitro to attain detectable quantities. PCR can be used for various purposes such as the amplification of human specific DNA sequences, differentiation of species, sub-species and strains, DNA sequencing, detection of mutations, monitoring cancer therapy, detection of bacterial and viral infections, pre-determination of sex, linkage analysis using single sperm cells, ascertaining recombinant clones and studying molecular evolution. PCR is a sensitive technique and therefore highly susceptible to contamination which may result in false positivity. To make PCR a specific, efficient and cost effective tool for researchers and clinicians the most important component of the PCR is the oligonucleotide primers. Literature searches indicate that insufficient experimental work has been done in the field of bioinformatics especially in the field of nucleic acid sequence analyses. Inadequate experimental data is available (at least in the public domain) for the establishment of primer design strategies. In this review the authors aim to establish various aspects and types of PCR and primer design theory, supported by computational and experimental data.