A Universal Polymerase Chain Reaction Developer

The versatility of PCR, the gold standard for amplification of DNA targets, is hampered by the laborious, multi‐step detection based on gel electrophoresis. We propose a one‐step, one‐tube method for the rapid (5 min) naked‐eye detection of PCR products, based on controlled aggregation of gold nanoparticles. Our method is universal, instrument‐free, and ultra‐sensitive, as it could detect as low as 0.01 zeptomoles of HIV template DNA in an excess of interfering human genomic DNA. Goodbye gels! PCR developer is a rapid (5 min), highly specific, and universal naked‐eye assay to replace gel electrophoretic analysis of PCR reactions.