Digital PCR dynamic range is approaching that of real-time quantitative PCR

Gerwyn M Jones; Eloise Busby; Jeremy A Garson; Paul R Grant; Eleni Nastouli; Alison S Devonshire; Alexandra S Whale

doi:10.1016/j.bdq.2016.10.001

Digital PCR dynamic range is approaching that of real-time quantitative PCR

Biomol Detect Quantif. 2016 Nov 2:10:31-33. doi: 10.1016/j.bdq.2016.10.001. eCollection 2016 Dec.

Authors

Gerwyn M Jones¹, Eloise Busby¹, Jeremy A Garson², Paul R Grant³, Eleni Nastouli³, Alison S Devonshire¹, Alexandra S Whale¹

Affiliations

¹ Molecular and Cell Biology Team, LGC, Teddington, United Kingdom.
² Department of Infection, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK.
³ Virology Laboratory, Clinical Microbiology and Virology, University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Digital PCR (dPCR) has been reported to be more precise and sensitive than real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) in a variety of models and applications. However, in the majority of commercially available dPCR platforms, the dynamic range is dependent on the number of partitions analysed and so is typically limited to four orders of magnitude; reduced compared with the typical seven orders achievable by qPCR. Using two different biological models (HIV DNA analysis and KRAS genotyping), we have demonstrated that the RainDrop Digital PCR System (RainDance Technologies) is capable of performing accurate and precise quantification over six orders of magnitude thereby approaching that achievable by qPCR.