Identification of the exponential phase during PCR amplification of barcode sequences.

<p>A. Schematic of the strategy used to identify the transition point from exponential to linear PCR amplification. gDNA isolated from HEK293T cells transduced with the pooled shRNA library were amplified in replicate PCR reactions. A replicate reaction was stopped at each cycle from 15 to 27 cycles. Subsequently, PCR products were used as templates for SYBR qPCR reactions using nested primers targeting a common sequence (outside of the barcode region) to examine the ΔC_q between cycles. B. Difference of C_q obtained in the qPCR on diluted amplicons from every cycle of the Phusion HS II polymerase PCR reaction (C_qN+1−C_qN) as a function of the Phusion PCR cycle number (N). C. Gel analysis of the PCR product generated from amplification cycles 22 to 25. Sizes of DNA bands in DNA marker (lane M) are indicated on the left.