Characterizing mitochondrial copy number variation and PCR amplification bias as sources of quantitative constraints in DNA metabarcoding
Lisa Wolany, Kevin Klinkenborg, Florian Leese, Dominik Buchner
COI metabarcoding of 81 arthropod mock communities shows PCR amplification bias is taxon-specific but non-exponential, so cycle calibration fails while a constant-bias model recovers mtDNA copies.
bioRxiv · Aug 17, 2026 · PreprintMolecular Biology✦ In-depth digest