Materials:  sterile water
 10X amplification buffer with 15mM MgCl2
 10 mM dNTP
 50 μM oligonucleotide primer 1
 50 μM oligonucleotide primer 2
 5 unit/μl Taq Polymerase
 template DNA (1 μg genomic DNA, 0.1-1 ng plasmid DNA) in 10 μl
 mineral oil (for thermocyclers without a heated lid
1. Combine the following for each reaction (on ice) in a 0.2 or 0.5 ml tube:

10X PCR buffer
 10 μl
 
Primer 1
 1 μl
 
Primer 2
 1 μl
 
dNTP
  2 μl
 
template DNA and water
 85.5 μl
 
Taq Polymerase
 0.5 μl
 

2. Prepare a control reaction with no template DNA and an additional 10 μl of sterile water.

3. If the thermocycler does not have a heated lid, add 70-100 μl mineral oil (or 2 drops of silicone oil) to each reaction.

4. Place tubes in a thermal cycler preheated to 94EC.

5. Run the following program:
 
94EC 1 min
55EC 1 min or annealing temperature appropriate for particular primer pair

72EC 1 min (if product is <500 bp), 3 min (if product is >500 bp)
for 30 cycles.

Program a final extension at 72EC for 7 min.