Determination of the rate of renaturation of modified DNA by fluorescence depolarization

Fluorescence depolarization was used to measure the rate of renaturation of T2 DNA, which had been modified by chloroacetaldehyde. Rates were measured on DNA samples with 5–15% of the base pairs modified and were found to agree with rates determined by DNA absorbance kinetics at 260 nm. The renaturation rate of a modified T2 DNA was unchanged in the presence of a ninefold abundance of unlabeled calf thymus DNA.