Anchored PCR

In the basic PCR technique and the inverse PCR, one has to use two primers representing the sequences lying at the ends of sequences to be amplified. But sometimes, we may have knowledge about sequence at only one of the two ends of the DNA sequence to be amplified. In such cases, anchored PCR may be used, which will utilize only one primer instead of two primers.

In this technique, due to the use of one primer, only one strand will be copied first, after which a poly-G tail will be attached at the end of the newly synthesized strand. This newly synthesized strand with poly G tail at its 3' end will then become template for the daughter strand synthesis utilizing an anchor primer with which a poly-C sequence is linked to complement with poly-G of the template. In the next cycle, both the original primer and anchored primer will be used for gene amplification.