| abstract |
PCT No. PCT/GB93/00147 Sec. 371 Date Nov. 18, 1994 Sec. 102(e) Date Nov. 18, 1994 PCT Filed Jan. 22, 1993 PCT Pub. No. WO93/15224 PCT Pub. Date Aug. 5, 1993A process is described for denaturing native double-stranded nucleic acid material into its individual strands in an electrochemical cell. The process is an electrical treatment of the nucleic acid with a voltage applied to the nucleic acid material by an electrode. The process employs a promoter which is an inorganic multivalent cation such as magnesium ions to speed denaturation. The process may be used in the detection of nucleic acid by hybridrising with a labelled probe or in the amplification of DNA by a polymerase chain reaction or ligase chain reaction. |