PrimerBank: a PCR primer database for quantitative gene expression analysis, 2012 update

Optimization of primer sequences for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reaction conditions remains an experimental challenge. We have developed a resource, PrimerBank, which contains primers that can be used for PCR and qPCR under stringent and allele-invariant amplification conditions. A distinguishing feature of PrimerBank is the experimental validation of primer pairs covering most known mouse genes. Here, we describe a major update of PrimerBank that includes the design of new primers covering 17,076 and 18,086 genes for the human and mouse species, respectively. As a result of this update, PrimerBank contains 497,156 primers (an increase of 62% from the previous version) that…

• MG
  Massachusetts General Hospital
• NI
  National Institutes of Health