A generally applicable assay for the quantification of inhibitory effects on PCR

PCR amplification of target genes from environmental DNA extracts can suffer from PCR inhibition, caused by co-extracted substances. No simple assay has been available to quantify this inhibition. Therefore, a generally applicable PCR inhibition-assay was developed, which allows determination of statistically significant inhibition of PCR. This information is important when documenting quality of DNA in environmental extracts used as template for PCR. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.