Nucleic acid metabolism in the ruminant

Abstract

1. Procedures, based on those of Schmidt & Thannhauser (1945) and Schneider (1945), for the extraction and estimation of nucleic acids in bovine digesta were examined in detail.2. Final methods which were suitable for routine determination of RNA and DNA were essentially as follows. Digesta samples were extracted in the cold, first with a solution of trichloroacetic acid in ethanol, then with aqueous trichloroacetic acid solution and finally with lipid solvents. The dried residue was hydrolysed with alkali, purified by passage through a Dowex resin, and the RNA, in the form of mononucleotides, determined by U.V. absorption. DNA was determined separately in hot perchloric acid extracts of the original dried residue by colorimetric estimation of the deoxyribose content.