A microcell for the temperature-jump technique

✍ Scribed by Detlev Riesner; Metin Colpan; John W. Randles

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 895 KB
• Volume: 121
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(82)90574-7

✦ Synopsis

The volume of the sample in the temperature-jump technique was reduced from 1.2 ml to 80 pl. This was achieved by a simple modification of a commercially available cell. The sample is placed in a small chamber which is enclosed within a larger chamber containing buffered agarose gel. Sample and surrounding gel are heated simultaneously by discharge. Experimental examples in which the denaturation of tRNA and of viroid-RNA was measured are given. The signal-to-noise ratio is as high as in the conventional cell, problems of high-voltage arcing and solution cavitation have not been observed, and the optical signal can be recorded longer than a second without being influenced by retooling.