What happens when you mix hydrochloric acid with DNA?

I already know how to extract the DNA from a fruit (strawberry, banana) and I want to know what happens when you mix HCl with the DNA in a centrifuge? My guess would be that the bases (A, T, G, C) would be destroyed, is that right? Also, would the hydrogen bonds be destroyed as well, or not, and what about the phosphate backbone? Is there anything out there that can destroy DNA, every single part of DNA?What happens when you mix hydrochloric acid with DNA?
Acid catalyzes a number of organic reactions, so it's difficult to say exactly what it would do to DNA aside from denature it in some way; there would be many competing reactions taking place. However, we can probably make some reasonable predictions.



The nitrogenous bases probably wouldn't be affected too much. The acid would protonate them (they are bases, after all, and can accept protons), but that might be the extent of it. The bases are actually very stable due to their aromaticity and geometry. At most, they'll probably just tautomerize, shifting their double bonds and hydrogen atoms around. I doubt that acid alone would be enough to destroy them completely. You may cleave the bonds holding the nitrogenous bases to the deoxyribose sugars, as these are sensitive to strong acid, but the bases themselves would remain intact.



Hydrogen bonding would indeed be affected. Either protonation or tautomerization of the bases would be enough to reconfigure their hydrogen bonding patterns and reduce the affinity of the DNA strands for one another. The DNA would still be soluble, but the hydrogen bonding responsible for holding the strands together would probably come undone.



Acid would probably hydrolyze the phospodiester backbond of the DNA, as well. Normal organic esters are sensitive to acid hydrolysis, so it stands to reason that phosphoesters behave similarly.



Ultimately, acid wouldn't completely destroy DNA, but it would mess it up significantly and irreparably. To completely obliterate it in a laboratory, you would need very high temperatures to essentially burn it up into simple compounds. Alternatively, you could just use the enzymatic machinery of other living cells; they break down polynucleotide chains all the time.What happens when you mix hydrochloric acid with DNA?
Although DNA is an acid (nucleic acid), it is known to hydrolyze in strong acids. This removes the bases from the DNA's sugar phosphate backbone. The backbone remains intact as an aldehyde. The now free bases could still form hydrogen bonds with each other, but they are no longer attached to the backbone.



This is the basis for using the Schiff's reagent in cell staining to stain DNA.

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