Cross-hybridization

The hydrogen bonding of a single- stranded DNA sequence that is partially but not entirely complementary to a singlestranded substrate. Often, this involves hybridizing a DNA probe for a specific DNA sequence to the homologous sequences of different species.

The annealing of a single-stranded DNA sequence to a single-stranded target DNA to which it is only partially complementary. Often, this refers to the use of a DNA probe to detect homologous sequences in species other than the origin of the probe.