= Solution
Two desirable properties are \b[similar <primer melting temperatures>], allowing one annealing condition to support both primers efficiently, and \b[specific binding with little self-complementarity or mutual complementarity], especially at the $3'$ ends, to reduce off-target products and <primer dimers>. Suitable length and a balanced <GC content> help achieve these goals. A long homopolymer, strong hairpin or repeated genomic binding site would compromise a candidate even if its calculated melting temperature looked acceptable.
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