DNA quantification is important in the research of life sciences. In an independent quantification process, the extracted part of a DNA sample is usually difficult to be recycled for further use while the widely used real-time PCR is used to count the copies with certain sequences. Based on the popular multiple displacement amplification (MDA), we proposed and performed quantitative real-time MDA to obtain the information of template amount based on fluorescence signals while amplifying whole-genome DNA. The detection limit of real-time MDA was as low as 0.5 pg μl−1 (5 pg DNA input), offering the whole-genome research a promising tool to quantify the entire DNA during amplification without sacrificing sample completeness or introducing redundant steps.
