NANO-PCR: Breaking the Bottom Limit of the PCR Denaturation Temperature using Nanogold

We have broken the bottom limit of the melting temperature and denaturation temperature of amplicons of polymerase chain reactions (PCR) by adding Au nanoparticles. We found that the melting temperature and lowest denaturation temperature of PCR could be declined by adding Au nanoparticles. With the addition of 0.7 nM of 13 nm Au nanoparticles into the PCR reagent, the lowest melting temperatures and denaturation temperatures of the same DNA samples that could be amplified using a real-time PCR system were decreased by 1~2degC and 1degC, respectively, compared with those without gold colloid added.