
9
Chapter 2: droplet PCR – General
Considerations
dPCR assay design
The Xdrop™ technology requires a simple assay design with the following components:
A DNA sample of high purity. Calculate the required amount of input DNA needed based on the desired
enrichment and desired amount of output DNA using the online sample input calculation tool at
samplix.com
One droplet PCR (dPCR) primer pair for enrichment. Please see the design guidelines below and use the online
primer design tool at
samplix.com.
One quantitative PCR (qPCR) primer pair for validation of Xdrop™ DNA enrichment. Please see the design
guidelines below and use the online primer design tool at
samplix.com
.
Target sequence
The Xdrop™ technology allows targeted enrichment and amplification of a genomic region of interest without the need
for long-range PCR. The target DNA of interest can contain repeat regions, GC-rich regions or other regions that are
otherwise difficult to amplify. Specific primers amplifying a short fragment of 100 bp is used for capturing the region of
interest. The Xdrop™ technology compartmentalizes the amplification reaction in small droplets and makes use of a
highly processive DNA polymerase to enable amplification of almost all regions of the genome.
The length of the enriched target DNA will depend on the length of the input DNA. Consider using high molecular
weight DNA as input with a DNA fragment size >30 kb and of high purity. Calculate the optimal amount of input
template DNA using the online sample input calculation tool at
samplix.com