Partially Overlapping Primer-Based PCR for Genome Walking

Current genome walking methods are cumbersome to perform and can result in non-specific products. Here, we demonstrate the use of partially overlapping primer-based PCR (POP-PCR), a direct genome walking technique for the isolation of unknown flanking regions. This method exploits the partially overlapping characteristic at the 3’ ends of a set of POP primers (walking primers), which guarantees that the POP primer only anneals to the POP site of the preceding PCR product at relatively low temperatures. POP primer adaptation priming at the genomic DNA/POP site occurs only once due to one low-/reduced-stringency cycle in each nested PCR, resulting in the synthesis of a pool of single-stranded DNA molecules. Of this pool, the target single-stranded DNA is replicated to the double-stranded form bound by the specific primer and the POP primer in the subsequent high-stringency cycle due to the presence of the specific primer-binding site. The non-target single stranded DNA does not become double stranded due to the absence of a binding site for any of the primers. Therefore, the POP-PCR enriches target DNA while suppressing non-target products. We successfully used POP-PCR to retrieve flanking regions bordering the gadA locus in Lactobacillus brevis NCL912, malQ in Pichia pastoris GS115, the human aldolase A gene, and hyg in rice.