M.A. Frohman, M.K. Dush, G.R. Martin, "Rapid production of full-length cDNAs from rare transcripts: amplification using a single gene-specific oligonucleotide primer," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 85, 8998-9002, December 1988.

Mike Frohman (University of California, San Francisco): "While perusing any of the major journals these days, one is seduced by colorful cartoon advertisements that insist that cDNA cloning is now extraordinarily easy and that production of very `highly representational libraries' is virtually guaranteed. Indeed, the frequency with which complete cDNAs are published obscures a painful reality: that there are still many investigators for whom obtaining a full-length cDNA clone is an elusive, frustrating, time-consuming, and, occasionally, humiliating experience. Our paper offered another approach to cDNA cloning intended to overcome several of the inherent difficulties. First, through a polymerase chain reaction-based strategy, our protocol results in an increase in frequency of the desired cDNA relative to the...

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