Colorimetry-Based Phosphate Measurement for Polymerase Elongation

DNA detection, which includes the measurement of variants in sequences or the presence of certain genes, is widely used in research and clinical diagnosis. Both require DNA-dependent DNA polymerase-catalyzed strand extension. Currently, these techniques rely heavily on the instruments used to visualize the results. This study introduced a simple and direct colorimetric method to measure polymerase-directed elongation. First, pyrophosphate (PPi), a by-product of strand extension, is converted into phosphate (Pi). Phosphate levels were measured using either Mo-Sb or BIOMOL Green reagent. This study showed that this colorimetry can distinguish single-base variants and detect PCR products in preset stringent conditions, implicating the potential value of this strategy to detect DNA.