In this study, the beneficial effect of an aqueous suspension of carbon nanopowder (CNP) in enhancing the efficiency of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification was demonstrated for the first time in a repeated PCR and a long PCR system. For repeated PCR, the results showed that in the presence of a certain amount of CNP a predominant target DNA could be obtained even in the sixth round amplification, and that the high specificity is dependent on the concentration of CNP. It was also shown that the CNP significantly improved the amplification efficiency for long PCR reactions. Preliminary atomic force microscopy observation indicated that CNPr could directly bind with DNA molecule. Given that carbon nanotubes, carbon nanopowder, gold nanoparticles and some other types of nanoparticle are all capable for improving the PCR efficiency and/or binding with DNA, it is clear that there is space for PCR technology improvement in the context of some enhanced properties discovered from the introduction of nanoparticles into biological aqueous solution.
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