Identification of denatured double‐stranded DNA by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Abstract
We created double‐stranded DNA (dsDNA) by annealing synthetic oligonucleotides and used matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry to measure the difference in molecular weight of the complementary strands after denaturation. Refined sample preparation and deliberate rectilinear construction of a linear mass spectrometer produced a mass resolution exceeding 1000 for single‐stranded DNA. We present methodologies and demonstrate the potential for analysing dsDNA by determining the mass of the complementary strands.