A reaction rate constant for avocado sunblotch viroid and its complementary DNA with application to viroid detection

Molecular hybridization between avocado sunblotch viroid and its complementary DNA (cDNA) proceeds as if it were a bimolecular chemical reaction with a rate constant of 0.21 liters per nanomole of nucleotide per day. Computer simulations show the minimum incubation times required to detect the viroid with cDNA probes of varying sensitivity with respect to viroid concentration, and estimate the concentration of one of the reactants when the other is known.