INTERACTION BETWEEN NUCLEIC ACIDS AND BERBERINE SULFATE

Abstract

Though an aqueous berberine sulfate solution excited by long wavelength ultraviolet light manifests only a weak fluorescence, it shows an intense yellow fluorescence on the addition of a small quantity of RNA or DNA. This enhancement of yellow fluorescence is larger when microsomal RNA is used as an additive than when low molecular weight RNA is used. The addition of heat-denatured DNA markedly increases the fluorescence intensity as compared with that of native DNA. In either case, a linear relationship exists between the fluorescence increment and the amount of nucleic acid added to the berberine sulfate solution. From these results, the possibility of developing a new fluorometric method for nucleic acid determination is suggested.