Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (Multiplex PCR) refers to the use of

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) ...

to amplify several different DNA sequences simultaneously (as if performing many separate PCR reactions all together in one reaction). This process amplifies DNA in samples using multiple primers and a temperature-mediated

DNA polymerase A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to crea ...

in a

thermal cycler The thermal cycler (also known as a thermocycler, PCR machine or DNA amplifier) is a laboratory apparatus most commonly used to amplify segments of DNA via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thermal cyclers may also be used in laboratories to fa ...

. The primer design for all primers pairs has to be optimized so that all primer pairs can work at the same annealing temperature during PCR. Multiplex-PCR was first described in 1988 as a method to detect deletions in the

dystrophin Dystrophin is a rod-shaped cytoplasmic protein, and a vital part of a protein complex that connects the cytoskeleton of a muscle fiber to the surrounding extracellular matrix through the cell membrane. This complex is variously known as the cost ...

gene. It has also been used with the

steroid sulfatase Steroid sulfatase (STS), or steryl-sulfatase (EC 3.1.6.2), formerly known as arylsulfatase C, is a sulfatase enzyme involved in the metabolism of steroids. It is encoded by the ''STS'' gene. Reactions This enzyme catalyses the following chemi ...

gene. In 2008, multiplex-PCR was used for analysis of

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

s and SNPs. In 2020, RT-PCR multiplex assays were designed that combined multiple gene targets from the Center for Diseases and Control in a single reaction to increase molecular testing accessibility and throughput for

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

diagnostics. Multiplex-PCR consists of multiple primer sets within a single PCR mixture to produce

amplicon In molecular biology, an amplicon is a piece of DNA or RNA that is the source and/or product of amplification or replication events. It can be formed artificially, using various methods including polymerase chain reactions (PCR) or ligase cha ...

s of varying sizes that are specific to different DNA sequences. By targeting multiple sequences at once, additional information may be gained from a single test run that otherwise would require several times the reagents and more time to perform. Annealing temperatures for each of the primer sets must be optimized to work correctly within a single reaction, and amplicon sizes, i.e., their base pair length, should be different enough to form distinct bands when visualized by

gel electrophoresis Gel electrophoresis is a method for separation and analysis of biomacromolecules ( DNA, RNA, proteins, etc.) and their fragments, based on their size and charge. It is used in clinical chemistry to separate proteins by charge or size (IEF ...

. Alternatively, if amplicon sizes overlap, the different amplicons may be differentiated and visualised using primers that have been dyed with different colour fluorescent dyes. Commercial multiplexing kits for PCR are available and used by many forensic laboratories to amplify degraded DNA samples.

Applications

Some of the

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

of multiplex PCR include: # Pathogen Identification # High Throughput SNP Genotyping # Mutation Analysis # Gene Deletion Analysis # Template Quantitation # Linkage Analysis # RNA Detection # Forensic Studies # Diet Analysis

References

{{Portal bar, Biology Molecular biology Laboratory techniques Amplifiers Polymerase chain reaction