Repair of damaged plasmids is quantified using SSPE-qPCR: (1) Plasmid DNA is denatured, (2) a primer extension reaction is performed using primer R, (3) the denaturation/primer extension step is repeated and additional 7 cycles. After 8 cycles, primer L is added and Ct values determined using qPCR. The presence of an abasic site, cholesterol, or DPC (A) will cause Taq polymerase to stall, resulting in no full-length product strands. In contrast, when repair has occurred (B), Taq polymerase will produce full-length product strands containing the binding site for primer L.