Figure 1. A scheme of the analytical procedures.

(A) dPCR and qPCR assays. Digital assays require the division of the sample into a large number of partitions, even thousands to millions, but they provide assessment without calibration. Real-Time assays require only one partition but need calibration using standardized samples to give an absolute result. (B) Synergistic assays described in this paper require simplified partitioning of the sample – only tens of non-identical partitions are needed – and provide absolute assessment without calibration.