Hybridization is the process of establishing a non-covalent, sequence-specific interaction between two or more complementary strands of nucleic acids into a single hybrid, which in the case of two strands is referred to as a duplex. Oligonucleotides, DNA, or RNA will bind to their complement under normal conditions, so two perfectly complementary strands will bind to each other readily. In order to reduce the diversity and obtain the most energetically preferred hybrids, a technique called annealing is used in the laboratory practice. However, due to the different molecular geometries of the nucleotides, a single inconsistency between the two strands will make binding between them less energetically favorable. Measuring the effects of base incompatibility by quantifying the rate at which two strands anneal can provide information as to the similarity in base sequence between the two strands being annealed. The hybrids may be dissociated by thermal denaturation also referred to as melting. Here, the solution of hybrids is heated to break the hydrogen bonds between nucleic bases, after which the two strands separate. In the absence of external negative factors, the processes of hybridization and melting may be repeated in succession indefinitely long, which lays the ground for polymerase chain reaction. Most commonly, the pairs of nucleic bases A=T and G=C are formed, of which the latter is more stable.
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