This study aimed to compare several DNA polymerases in order to optimize costs of microsatellite amplification reaction through the PowerPlex®16 BIO System. Three different polymerase brands have been used: (i) Paq5000 DNA Polymerase (Stratagene) and (ii) Platinum® Taq DNA Polymerase (Invitrogen), which have low commercial price; and (iii) Advantage 2 Polymerase Mix (Clontech), a DNA polymerase with high commercial price. Herein, neither samples nor positive control amplified in the reactions

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... in the reactions carried out with Paq5000 DNA Polymerase. Furthermore, the reactions performed with Platinum® Taq DNA Polymerase showed contrasting results, amplifying alleles only in some samples. On the other hand, the two microsatellite loci used (amelogenin e D18S51) were amplified in the analyses carried out with the Advantage 2 Polymerase Mix. Our findings indicated that the enzymes Paq5000 DNA Polymerase and Platinum® Taq DNA Polymerase have low processing capacity, showing inefficiency in the microsatellite detection; and that Advantage 2 Polymerase Mix is highly effective and suitable for microsatellite amplification assays.