Literature (Product Manuals, Specifications, MSDS)

Catalog No.	Product	PDF Guide
40-3031-10	DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide); 1 mL

PCR additives Betaine, DMSO and formamide reduces the Tm and the complex secondary structure thus the duplex stability. Tetramethyl ammonium chloride (TMAC) actually increases the specificity of hybridization and increases the Tm. The use of TMAC is recommended in PCR conditions using degenerate primers.
These PCR additives and enhancing agents have been used to increase the yield, specificity and consistency of PCR reactions. These additives may have beneficial effects on some amplification and it is impossible to predict which agents will be useful in a particular context and therefore they must be empirically tested for each combination of template and primers.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) reduce secondary structure and is particularly useful for GC rich templates. DMSO at 2-10% may be necessary for amplification of some templates, however 10% DMSO can reduce Taq polymerase activity by up to 50% so it should not be used routinely.