Lighting up hybridization

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a closed-tube format for labeling nucleic acid amplification oligonucleotides with donor and acceptor moieties of molecular energy transfer pairs, such that fluorescent energy emitted by the donor is absorbed by the acceptor.

TL;DR: In this article, a mass spectrometer-based process for detecting nucleic acid sequences in a biological sample was proposed, which can be used to diagnose a genetic disease or chromosomal abnormality; a predisposition to a disease or condition, infection by a pathogenic organism, or for determining identity or heredity.

TL;DR: Nucleic acid hybridization probes as discussed by the authors have a first conformation when not interacting with a target and a second conformation in the presence of a target, and the ability to bring a label pair into touching contact in one conformation but not the other.

TL;DR: A new class of probes for homogeneous nucleic acid detection based on the proposed displacement hybridization that demonstrates that multiple targets can be distinguished in the same solution, even if they differ from one another by as little as a single nucleotide.

TL;DR: It is proposed that the larger signal in the 5' nuclease PCR assay is caused by increased likelihood of cleavage by Taq DNA polymerase when the probe is hybridized to a template strand during PCR.

TL;DR: The fluorescence measurements provided a unique "label dilution" method for measuring dissociation rate constants of oligomers based upon the dynamic association and dissociation of complementary DNA strands at constant temperature, thereby reducing hybridization rates and eliminating the need for rapid mixing and measurement techniques.

TL;DR: The question of specificity is addressed by determining the difference in free energy between perfect and defect complexes by using UV melting curves and equilibrium competition experiments and presenting a method, referred to as stringency clamping, which maintains specific binding under conditions far from normal stringency.