Biology · Molecular Genetics

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based diagnosis test was performed on a bacterial sample targeting a specific gene. There are 3 copies of this gene in the bacterial genome. Prior to DNA extraction, the bacteria were incubated to allow one cycle of growth. 3072 amplicon copies were obtained after 9 cycles of the PCR. Assuming 100% efficiency at each step, what was the initial bacterial count in the sample?