Oligomer restriction

The OR technique, now rarely performed, was closely associated with the development of the popular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.

The mismatched hybrid no longer acts as a recognition site for the restriction enzyme, and the probe remains at its original length.

[3] The Oligomer Restriction method was beset by a number of problems: Despite its limitations, the OR technique benefited from its close association with the development of the polymerase chain reaction.

Aware of the problems they were encountering, he envisioned an alternative method for analyzing the SCA mutation that would use components of the Sanger DNA sequencing technique.

When his manuscript for the journal Nature was rejected, the basic description of PCR was hurriedly added to the paper originally intended to report the OR method (Mullis was also a co-author there).