Answer:
At least 17 PCR cycles or 16 PCR cycles
Explanation:
As we know -
In one chain of heating and cooling of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the strands of DNA gets doubled.
The general mathematical representation of this is
[tex]{2^n - (2 * n)}[/tex]
where "n" is the number of PCR cycles.
It is given that DNA strands to be produced is 16 times the original quantity of DNA.
So the PCR cycle must be carried out at least 17 times in order to have DNA strand not less than 16 times the original quantity of DNA
