Efficiency of DNA replication in the Polymerase Chain Reactio

Abstract

We present a detailed kinetic model for the Polymerase Chain Reaction, and model the probability of replication in terms of the physical parameters of the problem. Applying the theory of branching processes, we show the existance of a new phenomenon affecting the probability distribution function of the number of replicants: for small number of initial molecules, the limiting behavior (with increasing number of cycles) of the pdf is represented by a multi-modal funtion.