title: Breakdown of thermodynamic equilibrium for DNA hybridization in microarrays.
abstract: Test experiments of hybridization in DNA microarrays show systematic deviations from the equilibrium isotherms. We argue that these deviations are due to the presence of a partially hybridized long-lived state, which we include in a kinetic model. Experiments confirm the model predictions for the intensity vs free-energy behavior. The existence of slow relaxation phenomena has important consequences for the specificity of microarrays as devices for the detection of a target sequence from a complex mixture of nucleic acids.
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang, B-2400 Mol, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hooyberghs
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baiesi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrantini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carlon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D007700:Kinetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D011336:Probability; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics