Hoefer HB1000 - Instrukcja (Strona 21)

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p12
Mechanisms of nucleic hybridization
Hybridization occurs with a process called
nucleation whereby the two separate nucleic
acid strands come into close proximity of
each other. A duplex region is formed where a
minimum of three bases of one strand comple-
ments to those on the second strand. If the
remainder of the strands are complementary,
the two strands will anneal or zipper together
very quickly (Fig 5). The rate-limiting step in
nucleic acid hybridization is the duplex forma-
tion, which again explains why probe to target
concentrations are critical.
Fig 5. Step 1: Nucleation (slow)
Step 2: Zippering (fast)