Refine
Document Type
- Article (4)
Has Fulltext
- yes (4)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (4)
Institute
- Medizin (3)
- Biochemie und Chemie (1)
- Biowissenschaften (1)
1. Deoxyribonuclease activity has been determined by viscosimetry in the serum of the Ehrlich Ascites in the mouse to be equivalent to 2,3 ± 0,7·10-6 g/ml of crystalline beef pancreas DNase.
2. Injections of heterologous deoxyribonucleic acid into the Ehrlich Ascites tumor under specified conditions does not alter tumor development.
3. The same DNA however becomes strongly inhibitory for tumor growth after UV irradiation.
4. Possible implications are discussed.
A nucleoprotein of a vitrous consistency was extracted from the gonads of the coalfish (Gadus virens).
The preparation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from this nucleoprotein and from staphylococci is described. Both of these different kinds of DNA have been mixed with bovine serum albumin or cytochrom c respectively to produce solutions which subsequently were spread onto the Langmuir trough under defined conditions.
After transfer of aliquots from the surface monolayers to carbon support films the preparations were examined with the electron microscope. The micrographs show threads of various lengths, partly stretched, partly folded in loops, consisting of DNA molecules embedded in a protein envelope.
Measurements and calculations of 5900 particles of the complex of Gadus virens-DNA-Albumin, with relatively short threads show a distribution of discontinuous character. If length is plotted against number then it occurs that there are maxima of different lengths of threads. The abscissae of these maxima obey the ratio 1 : 2 : 4 : 8. This holds for longer threads too the maxima of which, however, have smaller ordinate values.
1. Electron micrographs of ultra-thin sections of Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus lysodeikticus in Vestopal as embedding medium disclose a multiplicity of DNA containing threads with varying interparticular distances.
2. The diameter of these threads is about one tenth of the average optimal section thickness.
3. This section thickness inevitably is implicated in the visualization of the internal distances between the threads as well as in some common trends in the DNA pool, a fact that has to be accounted for in the analysis of the macromolecules.
4. By spreading lysozyme protoplasts of M. lysodeikticus on a water-air interface in a Langmuir trough and by transferring this surface layer to carbon supported Formvar films, two-dimensional systems can be demonstrated which as a thread of constant width comprise the total DNA content of one microorganism each.
5. Such a macromolecular system shows equally shaped, coiled loops in a peripheral zone and many crossings towards the center. Branching of threads never has been observed so far.
From this evidence we conlude:
a) Intracellular DNA in these bacteria seems to exist in one pool as a “woolen ball” which is centered in the cytoplasm as a more or less dense object.
b) This “woolen ball“ embodies the total amount of DNA most probably as one single threadlike unit.
6. Partial destruction of the thread system of protoplasts will result upon changing optimal spreading conditions.
7. The same kind of destruction is shown upon isolation of the DNA from protoplasts, the length of the threads being an inverse function of the number of precipitation steps showing purification.
A method which serves to isolate the gonads from the sea cucumber (Holothuria polii) is outlined. Criteria that will secure a well determined status of maturity of the sperm are given. From this preparation a deoxyribonucleic acid is made, purified and analysed. It is concluded that the analytical data are in compliance with the theory of Crick and Watson. The ratio of Moles for this DNA while its nitrogen to phosphorus ratio on weight basis is 1,67.