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Determination of PCR Efficiency  (main)
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Determination of real-time PCR amplification efficiency

taken from Chapter 3:   Quantification strategies in real-time PCR  by Michael W. Pfaffl     Download Chapter 3 PDF  in:  A-Z of quantitative PCR  ( Editor:  S.A. Bustin ) International University Line (IUL), La Jolla, CA, USA

Individual samples generate different and individual fluorescence histories in kinetic RT-PCR. The shapes of amplification curves differ in the steepness of any fluorescence increase and in the absolute fluorescence levels at plateau depending on background fluorescence levels. The PCR efficiency has a major impact on the fluorescence history and the accuracy of the calculated expression result and is critically influenced by PCR reaction components. Efficiency evaluation is an essential marker in gene quantification procedure. Constant amplification efficiency in all compared samples is one important criterion for reliable comparison between samples. This becomes crucially important when analyzing the relationship between an unknown sequence versus a standard sequence, which is performed in all relative quantification models. In experimental designs employing standardization with housekeeping genes, the demand for invariable amplification efficiency between target and standard is often ignored, despite the fact that corrections have been suggested. A correction for efficiency, as performed in efficiency corrected mathematically models, is strongly recommended and results in a more reliable estimation of the ‘real expression ratio’ compared to NO efficiency correction. Small efficiency differences between target and reference gene generate false expression ratio, and the researcher over- or under-estimates the ‘real’ initial mRNA amount.
The assessment of the exact amplification efficiencies of target and reference genes must be carried out before any calculation of the normalized gene expression is done. LightCycler Relative Expression Software, Q-Gene, REST and REST-XL software applications allow the evaluation of amplification efficiency plots. Different tissues exhibit different PCR efficiencies, caused by RT inhibitors, PCR inhibitors and by variations in the total RNA fraction pattern extracted.

Several methods are described in the literature to calculate real-time PCR efficiency:



Determination of PCR efficiencies in competitive RT-PCR
Various external effects on PCR amplification effiency

New added publications:
  • Absolute and relative real-time PCR in the quantification of tst gene expression among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: evaluation by two mathematical models.
    Chini V, Foka A, Dimitracopoulos G, Spiliopoulou I. 2007   download PDF
  • Enhancing the efficiency of a PCR using gold nanoparticles.
    Li M, Lin YC, Wu CC, Liu HS.  2006   
    download PDF
  • PCR inhibition by reverse transcriptase leads to an overestimation of amplification efficiency.
    Suslov O, Steindler DA.    download PDF
  • Relative quantification of mRNA: comparison of methods currently used for real-time PCR data analysis.
    Cikos S, Bukovská A, Koppel J., 2007      download PDF

  • Overview article - Comprehensive Algorithm for Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sheng Zhao and Russell D. Fernald, 2005    download PDF
  • Technical Note - Evaluation of Real-Time PCR Amplification Efficiencies to Detect PCR Inhibitors
    Elias J. Kontanis and Floyd A. Reed, 2006   
    download PDF
  • Estimation of the reaction efficiency in polymerase chain reaction
    Nadia Lalam, 2006     download PDF  
  • Molelling the PCR amplification process by a size-dependent branching process and estimation of the efficiency
    Lalam et al., 2004
       download PDF
  • Statistical Inference for Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Using a Hidden Markov Model: A Bayesian Approach       Lalam, 2007    download PDF
  • Evaluation of absolute quantitation by nonlinear regression in probe-based real-time PCR
    Goll et al., 2006   download PDF
  • Mathematical Model of Real-Time PCR Kinetics
  • Gevertz et al., 2005    download PDF

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