COLD-PCR

**Semantic type:** Molecular Biology Research Technique

**Definition:** A modification of the standard polymerase chain reaction that increases the ability to preferentially amplify minority alleles and somatic mutations in the presence of an excess of wild-type molecules. Sequence-variant molecules are preferentially selected by the lower melting temperature of their mismatched heteroduplex after they've annealed to a wild-type molecule that is present in excess. By carefully selecting the denaturing temperature below the Tm for the wild-type molecule, only the mismatch heteroduplexes will melt and act as efficient templates for strand synthesis.

**Synonyms:** - Co-amplification at Lower Denaturation Temperature-PCR