Because of miRNAs’ short length, the design of miRNA primers for PCR amplification remains a significant challenge. Adding to the challenge are miRNAs similar in sequence and miRNA family members that often only differ in sequences by 1 nt. This publication describes a novel empirical-based method, miPrimer, which greatly reduces primer dimerization and increases primer specificity by factoring various intrinsic primer properties and employing four primer design strategies. miPrimer-designed primers are capable of discriminating among members of miRNA families, as validated by qPCR assays using Quark Biosciences’ platform. This publication shows that miPrimer provides a cost-effective and valuable tool for designing miRNA primers.
Check out the full publication here: miPrimer: an empirical-based qPCR primer design method for small noncoding microRNA
