HybridizationHybridization is a process in which DNA is heated to a temperature at which its backbone separates (also called the "melting temperature"). These DNA are allowed to mingle with backbones of DNA from another species (DNAs from different species sources) to form hybrid DNA with one backbone from one species and a second backbone from another. This process works because hydrogen bonds form only between complementary base pairs.
This does not create a monster, or even viable DNA; instead, it allows researchers to determine phylogenetic interrelationships between different DNA.
In the process, the more similarity there is in the hybrid DNA, the more hydrogen bonds will be formed in hybridization. This is compared with the original DNA to determine percentage of nucleotide homology. This is the process through which researchers determined that humans and chimpanzees have DNA as similar as 98%.
It's a useful technique for a surprising number of applications: identifying DNA in a crime case, tracing DNA similarities to determine who is related to whom, or determining what percentage similarity exists between the DNA of two species of creature. The more dissimilar DNA gets, however, the less useful hybridization becomes; this is because sequences are not necessarily perfectly aligned. Besides, in very dissimilar species, DNA matches through sheer chance also happen; and when proteins are coded for in unexpected places, corresponding sequences can be completely missed. Today, computational alignment is gaining popularity over hybridization.
Web Resources On Hybridization
DNA Hybridization
Nucleic Acid Hybridization
Book Resources On HybridizationDNA Markers: Protocols, Applications, and Overviews by Caetano-Anollés & Gresshoff
Methods to Assess DNA Damage and Repair: Interspecies Comparisons by Tardiff et al
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