Primer Design

Primers can be designed directly against the sequences annotated in CnidoSite, or against a sequence you paste in. Design is performed by primer3 (version 2.6.1) running on this server — your sequence is not sent to any third-party website. For reference, the primers released with this database were designed with an optimal melting temperature of 60°C (58–62 °C), an optimal primer length of 20 bp (18–24 bp), and a GC content between 40% and 60%, with self-complementarity restricted to limit primer-dimer formation; that parameter set is the CnidoSite published protocol preset below.

Template taken from CnidoSite: FUN_031462-T1 (FUN_031462-T1), 1,626 bp.
Template

Two ways to supply a template: pick a species and a gene / transcript ID, or paste your own sequence. If the gene ID is found it is used; the pasted sequence is used otherwise. A template must be at least 30 bp.

Load example sequence
Primer parameters
Advanced parameters (any field left empty keeps the preset value)

A value that is not a number is ignored. The product size range is applied only when both of its fields are filled in and the maximum is at least the minimum.

Melting temperature
Primer length and GC content
Product and output
Self-complementarity and probe
Download TSV
Design results sorted by primer3 penalty, lowest first

Template 1,626 bp · parameter preset CnidoSite published protocol (Tm 60 [58-62] °C, 20 [18-24] bp, GC 40-60%) · 5 primer pairs returned.

Pair Left primer (5'→3') Position Len Tm (°C) GC (%) Right primer (5'→3') Position Len Tm (°C) GC (%) Product (bp) Penalty
1 TGTTAGCAACGACCACGACA 381–400 20 59.897 50.000 TCCTCTGGCAGACTACGTCA 483–502 20 59.962 55.000 122 0.140
2 AAAAGTGAGCAGTGCGGACT 195–214 20 60.179 50.000 TGTCGTGGTCGTTGCTAACA 381–400 20 59.897 50.000 206 0.282
3 TTAGGGAGCTTACGCAACGG 1009–1028 20 60.109 55.000 GGCTGGAAGACTTAGGACGG 1122–1141 20 59.824 60.000 133 0.285
4 GCCCGCAGCGATAACTTTTC 530–549 20 60.248 55.000 AGAACCTACGACGGTTGCTG 692–711 20 60.039 55.000 182 0.287
5 CTGGAATGCGGAAACTTGGC 44–63 20 60.109 55.000 AGTCCGCACTGCTCACTTTT 195–214 20 60.179 50.000 171 0.288
Primer map pair 1 (lowest penalty) · product 122 bp at template position 381–502 · the template track shows a 1,500 bp window of the 1,626 bp template — the blue segment on the top bar is where that window sits, and every scale is in template coordinates · the two tracks are drawn at different scales

Left primer — binds the template strand as listed (5′→3′)Right primer — its reverse complement binds hereProductWindow drawn in the template track

whole templatethe 1,500 bp drawn in the track below · template 1–1,500 of 1,626Template1,500 bp windowproduct 122 bp · template 381–502product 122 bpleft primer, template 381–400right primer anneals here, template 483–50213767511,1251,500Amplicon122 bpleft primer TGTTAGCAACGACCACGACA · 5′→3′right primer TCCTCTGGCAGACTACGTCA · its reverse complement binds the template strandTGTTAGCAACGACCACGACATCCTCTGGCAGACTACGTCAinterior 82 bp381411442472502
Left primer
TGTTAGCAACGACCACGACA
template 381–400 · 20 bp · Tm 59.897 °C · GC 50.000 %
Right primer
TCCTCTGGCAGACTACGTCA
template 483–502 · 20 bp · Tm 59.962 °C · GC 55.000 %

Amplicon sequence (5′→3′ on the template strand, 122 bp) — blue is the left primer, red is where the right primer anneals. Copy from here to order or to check a base by eye.

TGTTAGCAACGACCACGACAACGCCACAAATCAATGATTTCATTGGTTGAATGAGGAAAAGTAATCGTGCTGCACGTGCGGCACGCTTTTTGGTGCAATCTCTGACGTAGTCTGCCAGAGGA

The right primer is listed as its own 5'→3' sequence; what anneals to the template strand shown here is its reverse complement, so the highlighted stretch is complementary to the listed sequence. That is expected.

How to read this table. Position is a 1-based interval on the template, and both primers use the same convention: it is the stretch the primer occupies on the template strand (for the left primer, starting at its 5’ end; for the right primer, the region it anneals to, i.e. where the reverse complement of the listed sequence sits on the template). The two coordinates in a row can therefore be subtracted directly, and the amplicon view above marks both of them so you can check them by eye. Penalty is primer3’s weighted sum of the deviations from your constraints — lower is better, and the pairs are returned in that order. Tm is computed by primer3 from the SantaLucia thermodynamic parameters at the salt and primer concentrations in effect. The primer sequences themselves are 5’→3′ and can be ordered as they stand; the right primer anneals to the template as its reverse complement.

Specificity has not been assessed. This page only designs primers; it does not check whether they also anneal elsewhere in the genome or transcriptome. Once you have candidates, confirm each primer sequence with this site’s BLAST. The Tm and GC settings above are the design targets, and the annealing temperature still has to be optimised at the bench.

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