Viscosity and temperature effects on the rate of DNA strand separation in alkali

The time required for the completion of the process of strand separation in λ bacteriophage DNA preparations exposed to strongly alkaline conditions in aqueous glycerol solutions was directly proportional to the viscosity of the solvent. This finding supports the idea that the rate-limiting step in the denaturation of high molecular weight DNA is the uncoiling of the strands and in the course of this uncoiling the forces arising from electrostatic and entropic factors must overcome the hydrodynamic viscous drag of the solvent resisting the translation of the polynucleotide strands.