Immobilization of denatured DNA to macroporous supports: II. Steric and kinetic parameters of heterogeneous hybridization reactions.

The accessibility of immobilized DNA has been shown to depend more crucially on the method of immobilization than on the type of support used for fixation. When sonicated denatured DNA is coupled via diazotization or via cyanogen bromide reaction to solid Sephadex G-25 and Cellex 410 or to macroporous Sephacryl S-500 and Sepharose C1-6B its accessibility varies from 100 to 24 percent. Generally the loss of accessibility is linked to a depression of the melting temperature of DNA helices formed on the support. This correlation shows a characteristic course for a particular coupling method. DNA coupled under denaturing conditions may become totally inaccessible when only 3 percent of its bases are involved in the covalent linkage. Kinetic experiments with sonicated E.coli DNA have shown that the rate constants for renaturation or hybridization reactions are very similar for DNA immobilized by different methods to solid or macroporous supports. Generally the second order rate constant for a heterogeneous reaction (between mobile and immobilized DNA) is about one order of magnitude smaller than that of the analogous homogeneous reaction (in solution).