Digital PCR: Principles and Applications.

Digital PCR is a robust PCR technique that enables precise and accurate absolute quantitation of target molecules by diluting and partitioning of the samples into numerous compartments. Automated partitioning can be attained by creating "water-in-oil" emulsion (emulsion-based digital PCR) or using a chip with microchannels (microfluidics-based digital PCR). We discuss the advantages and a wide variety of clinical applications of this technique. We describe the droplet digital RT-PCR protocol published by Jennings et al. for identification and absolute quantitation of BCR-ABL1 transcripts.