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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Real-time Observation of the DNA Strand Exchange Reaction Mediated by Rad51
Published on: February 13, 2019
Polar organic solvents accelerate the rate of DNA strand replacement reaction
Tianchi Zhang1, Chunli Shang, Ruixue Duan
1Key Laboratory for Large-Format Battery Materials and System, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China. xiafan@hust.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Herein, we report a novel strategy to accelerate the rate of DNA strand replacement reaction (DSRR) by polar organic solvents. DSRR plays a vital role in DNA nanotechnology but prolonged reaction time limits its further advancement. That is why it is extremely important to speed up the rate of DSRR. In this work, we introduce different polar organic solvents in both simple and complicated DSRR systems and observe that the rate constant is much more than in aqueous buffer. The rate acceleration of DSRR by polar organic solvents is very obvious and we believe that this strategy will extend the application of DNA nanotechnology in future.
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