Nucleic acid hybridization
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In molecular biology, hybridization (or hybridisation) is a phenomenon in which single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules anneal to complementary DNA or RNA.[1] Though a double-stranded DNA sequence is generally stable under physiological conditions, changing these conditions in the laboratory (generally by raising the surrounding temperature) will cause the molecules to separate into single strands. These strands are complementary to each other but may also be complementary to other sequences present in their surroundings. Lowering the surrounding temperature allows the single-stranded molecules to anneal or “hybridize” to each other.
Applications
Hybridization is a basic property of nucleotide sequences and is taken advantage of in numerous molecular biology techniques. Overall, genetic relatedness of two species can be determined by hybridizing segments of their DNA (
DNA-DNA hybridization
Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a laboratory method used to detect and locate a DNA sequence, often on a particular chromosome.[4]
In the 1960s, researchers Joseph Gall and Mary Lou Pardue found that molecular hybridization could be used to identify the position of DNA sequences in situ (i.e., in their natural positions within a chromosome). In 1969, the two scientists published a paper demonstrating that radioactive copies of a ribosomal DNA sequence could be used to detect complementary DNA sequences in the nucleus of a frog egg.[5] Since those original observations, many refinements have increased the versatility and sensitivity of the procedure to the extent that in situ hybridization is now considered an essential tool in cytogenetics.
References
- PMID 18257727.
- ^ McClean, Phillip. "Nucleic Acid Hybridizations". DNA - Basics of Structure and Analysis. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- ^ Beckman, Mary. "Hybridization". Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- PMID 12808017.
- PMID 5261036.
External links
- "James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin". Science History Institute. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018. In 1962 James Watson (b. 1928), Francis Crick (1916–2004), and Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004) jointly received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their 1953 determination of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
- Southern hybridization & Northern hybridization