Polymerase Chain Reaction Cloning of Related Genes

PCR amplification is a powerful technique for cloning related genes. Compared to traditional structure-based methods, it is faster and more specific. When properly designed and executed, the isolation of related genes by PCR amplification can be accomplished in less than 1 week. The key element to success is the proper choice of PCR primers, which are designed according to the degree of conservation of amino acid sequence in the protein(s) of interest and the degeneracy of the resulting oligonucleotides. We demonstrate the utility of this approach for the isolation of PTP genes from distantly related organisms.