The effect of colony age on PCR fingerprinting

Abstract
The pattern of DNA fragments produced by the polymerase chain reaction using arbitrary primers is strongly influenced by the age of the colonies sampled. We show that the number, clarity and reproducibility of the bands produced is optimal when very young colonies are sampled. This work was supported by European Community grants (EEC CI1* 0545-UK, JEB and HC; BIOT-CT91-0283, JEB and HK), the AFRC (PG7 586, JEB and BH) and the SERC Biotechnology Directorate and Zeneca Ltd through a CASE studentship to LS.