An electrophoretic investigation of the mixture of oligonucleotides formed by the enzymic degradation of deoxyribonucleic acid by deoxyribonuclease

Abstract

Deoxyribonucleic acid was hydrolyzed by means of the deoxyribonuclease of ox pancreas. The mixture of oligonucleotides thus formed was subjected to electrophoresis in agar jelly. The incorporation of a trace of fluorescein in the jelly made possible the visualization of bands of u.-v.-absorbing material. After electrophoresis appropriate sections were cut out of the jelly and the diffusion constants of the materials contained in each estimated. The ratios of the purine and pyrimidine bases present in such cuts were estimated after hydrolysis and separation on an ion-exchange chromatogram. The evidence thus obtained suggests that the main components of the 2 slowest moving bands are respectively dinucleotide(s) of adenine and cytosine and trinucleotide(s) containing one residue of thymine and two residues of cytosine.