In hybridization experiments would you always want to use th

Solution

Stringency is the extent to which hybridisation can occur between nucleic acids with mismatched sequences. High stringency conditions requires absolute complementarity between the molecules, while low stringency conditions permit hybridisation where there are some mismatched bases. Nucleic acids, that are perfectly matched, under high stringency conditions, are said to be homologous; nucleic acids that hybridise despite some base mismatches, under low stringency conditions are said to be heterologous.

The level of stringency used in hybridisation depends on the purpose of hybridisation. For example, when probing for a specific gene sequence on a microarray chip, a very high level of specificity is required and thus high stringency conditions will apply. However, while dealing with organismal comparisons, for example comparing the gene sequence for the same enzyme is human and chimpanzee, some sequence mismatch is expected and thus low stringency condition may apply.