Thoughts, Notes, and Ideas

This collection of posts are topics we are working on or thinking about. Posts will be regularly updated to add additional details or correct errors.

Could Bento Lab be used to identify bats from their droppings using PCR? Some thoughts…

Could Bento Lab be used to identify bats from their droppings using PCR? Here are some thoughts on why PCR-based bat identification is important, how researchers are doing this work now, and how it might be done with Bento Lab

A New Strategy for Sexing Parrots (order Psittaciformes) using PCR

A recent article by Kroczak et al. (2021) suggests a new strategy for sexing parrots, parakeets and allies (order Psittaciformes) using four primer pairs; shows what to expect for each of 135 birds; and suggests a strategy for sexing species if they haven’t been sexed before.

Touchdown and Stepdown PCR

Touchdown PCR Touchdown PCR is a very clever and commonly used method of PCR aimed at increasing PCR specificity while still achieving a good yield of the target amplicon. In standard PCR, the annealing temperature step is usually static and the optimal temperature is a compromise of specificity and yield, usually 3-5 °C below the

Booster PCR

Booster PCR is an interesting but curiously rarely used PCR technique from the early days of PCR, that aims to increase the sensitivity of a PCR without increasing primer dimers and other non-specific amplification. The technique, developed by Ruano et al. (1989), involves two PCR steps: a first PCR using very diluted primers to minimise