Use of neutron activation in the characterization of small quantities of nucleic acids

The behaviour of oligodeoxynucleotides on thin-layer chromatography on polyethyleneimine-cellulose and ion-exchange paper electrophoresis. Applications in fractionating and sequencing terminally labelled oligodeoxynucleotides

The electrophoretic behaviour of oligodeoxynucleotides on ion-exchange papers was studied systematically with particular attention to applications in sequence analysis. Complex mixtures of larger oligonucleotides were fractionated by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate followed by t.l.c. on polyethyleneimine-cellulose. The behaviour of the oligonucleotides on polyethyleneimine-cellulose and on the two-dimensional system can provide a useful guide to their sequence. Detailed results from some of these experiments have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50031 (13 pages) at the British Library (Lending Division) (formerly the National Lending Library for Science and Technology), Boston Spa, Yorks. LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained on the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1973), 131, 5.

Nucleotide sequence analysis with polynucleotide kinase and nucleotide "mapping" methods. 5'-Terminal sequences of deoxyribonucleic acid from bacteriophages lambda and 424

The polynucleotide kinase reaction was used in analyses of complex mixtures of oligodeoxynucleotides which were fractionated by various two-dimensional nucleotide ;mapping' procedures. Parallel ionophoretic analyses on DEAE-cellulose paper, pH2, and AE-cellulose paper, pH3.5, of venom phosphodiesterase partial digests of 5'-terminally labelled oligonucleotides enabled the sequence of the nucleotides to be deduced uniquely. A ;diagonal ionophoresis' method has been used with mixtures of nucleotides. Application of these methods to 5'-terminally labelled DNA from bacteriophage lambda gave the terminal sequences pA-G-G-T-C-G and pG-G-G-C-G. Identical 5'-terminal sequences were found with DNA from bacteriophage 424.

Nucleotide 'maps' of digests of deoxyribonucleic acid

Various digests of (32)P-labelled DNA were examined by two-dimensional ionophoresis on cellulose acetate and DEAE-cellulose paper. The products from digestion with pancreatic deoxyribonuclease and Neurospora crassa endonuclease were qualitatively closely similar, but very complex, and were used to investigate the mapping behaviour of nucleotides in various ionophoretic systems. Ionophoresis on DEAE-cellulose paper in triethylamine carbonate, pH 9.7, followed by ionophoresis in the second dimension at pH1.9 gave high resolution of nucleotides in very complex mixtures and permitted the fractionation of larger quantities than is possible on cellulose acetate. High resolution of nucleotides in compact spots was obtained with two-dimensional ionophoresis on cellulose acetate and AE-cellulose paper, a system that is a useful supplement to those based on DEAE-cellulose paper.

Esters of serine and threonine in hydrolysates of histones and protamines, and attendant errors in amino acid analyses of proteins

1. Partial acid hydrolysates of histones from various origins and of protamine were analysed by a two-dimensional ionophoretic procedure to reveal strongly acidic ninhydrin-positive components. 2. Histone fractions prepared by extraction with sulphuric acid gave rise to spots identified as serine O-sulphate and threonine O-sulphate. These two compounds, which were not found in hydrolysates of corresponding fractions prepared by extraction with hydrochloric acid, were artifacts. 3. Hydrolysis of proteins in the presence of traces of sulphate can lead to the formation of the O-sulphates of serine and threonine. This can cause errors, which may sometimes be serious, in amino acid analyses of proteins. 4. O-Phosphoserine was obtained in small amounts from some histone fractions and from protamine, but was undetectable in other histone fractions, notably those of lower lysine content.