An Overview of Nanoparticle-Assisted Polymerase Chain Reaction Technology

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most popular molecular biological techniques, and is widely used in many areas. However, PCR is always faced with many technical challenges. Many reagents have been tested as PCR enhancers, such as single-stranded binding protein (SSB), betaine, and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In recent years, it has been reported that some nanoparticles (NPs) can enhance the efficiency of PCR (thus being called nanoPCR), and some even perform better than the original PCR enhancers. It was also found that quantum dots (QDs) can improve PCR specificity and efficiency. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are efficient in enhancing the amplification of long PCR. Carbon nanopowder (CNP) was reported be able to improve the efficiency of repeated PCR and long PCR. ZnO, TiO2, and Ag NPs were also found to increase PCR yield. Importantly, already known data has indicated that non-metallic NPs retained acceptable amplification fidelity. Given that many NPs are capable of enhancing PCR efficiency, it is clear that there is likely to be great potential for nanoPCR technology improvements and product development.