PCR artifacts
Artifacts are unwanted sequences or structures created during PCR that do not represent the original sample input.
Artifacts consume sequencing capacity and can be mistaken for real biology, which makes them a data integrity problem as much as a yield one.
Size bias is the tendency of PCR to preferentially amplify shorter fragments, distorting the original fragment size distribution.
Recombination is the unintended shuffling of genetic material between fragments, often driven by over-amplification.
Primer dimers are artifacts formed when two primer molecules hybridize to each other instead of to the target DNA template.
Jackpotting is the runaway over-amplification of a few random fragments, which skews their representation in the sequencing data.
Chimeras are artifacts formed when fragments from different DNA molecules fuse into a single artificial hybrid sequence.
Adapter dimers are artifacts formed when two sequencing adapters ligate to each other instead of to a DNA insert.
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