NEW METHOD FOR COVALENT IMMOBILIZATION OF OLIGONUCLEOTIDES ON NYLON MEMBRANES

An efficient method was developed for covalent immobilization of oligo deoxyribonucleotides on commercially available nylon membranes contain ing amino groups. It is based on condensation of the membrane amino gr oups with the oligonucleotide carboxyls in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-( 3'-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide. Membranes containing an immobiliz ed 23-membered oligonucleotide were hybridized with a complementary ol igonucleotide and single-stranded M13 DNA. The membranes obtained coul d be used for hybridization analysis and isolation of nucleic acids an d proteins recognizing certain sequences.