DNA reassociation kinetics or C0t curve

DNA renaturation (melting): the doubled strands of DNA completely separated each other.
Once the two DNA strands have separated, the hydrophobic interactions that result from
stacking are greatly decreased, which changes the electronic nature of
the bases and increases their UV absorbance (260nm)
Tm: the temperature at which the shift in absorbance is half completed.
More GC, higher Tm

Reassociation: DNA is sheared into pieces of a few hundred bp, heated to denature into
single strands, then allowed to renature during cooling.

Cot1/2: the value when 50% renaturation has occurred which can be used to estimate the
length of unique DNA in a sample.
Co: the original concentration of denatured DNA
T: time in seconds
A high concentration of DNA incubated for a shorter time =a low concentration of DNA
incubated for a longer time
Higher Cot1/2 values indicate greater genome complexity

The equation is C / C 0 = 1 / 1 x K.Cot ,

The Cot 1 / 2 indicate the reassociation is half complete at a time called t1/2.

By measuring ss or ds DNA at zero time i.e. Co, and time t and the concentration of
ssDNA at another time t after a period of reaction; the kinetic equation can be
written asC / Co = 1 / 1 + K. Cot,
Where C is the concentration after a lapse of time t,
The product of Co (conc. of ssDNA at zero time) and the time t (period of
incubation) is,
Co x t = Co t.
When the reaction is half complete it is written as
C / Co = 1 / 2 = 1 / 1 + K. Cot 1 / 2,
So the Cot 1/2 is equal to 1/ K. Hence the Cot is the product of conc. of ss or ds
DNA left after reassociation into ds forms and the time required for reassociation to
half completion. It can be rewritten as, the Cot is the product of conc. of dsDNA
after reassociation and the time required for reassociation to half completion.