ABSTRACT
Hybridization is the binding together of single strands of nucleic acids through hydrogen bonds between opposing bases to form double strands. Membrane hybridization involves binding soluble nucleic acid strands to nucleic acid strands fixed to special paper membranes. In contrast, in situ hybridization involves binding nucleic acid strands to endogenous deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or Ribonucleic acid (RNA) in either tissue sections, cells in culture, cell smears or chromosome preparations. Hybridization can also occur between DNA strands of unequal length. Hybridization stringency can be increased by addition of organic solvents such as formamide to the buffer. Hybridization is not limited to base pairing between DNA molecules in solution.In situ hybridization is a powerful and reliable method for detecting low levels of messenger RNA at the resolution of a single cell. There are two types of labelled probes used in hybridization techniques: radioactive and non-radioactive. Radioactive-labelled probes are typically used for membrane hybridizations.
