Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid from Tetrahymena pyriformis and its kinetic complexity

Abstract

1. Mitochondrial DNA from Tetrahymena pyriformis strain T has a buoyant density (ρ) of 1.685 compared with ρ1.688 for whole cell DNA. Mitochondrial preparations from T. pyriformis strain W show an enrichment of a light satellite (ρ1.686), although this is not obtained free from nuclear DNA (ρ1.692). 2. T. pyriformis mitochondrial DNA renatures rapidly and the kinetics of this process indicate a complexity of approx. 3×10⁷ daltons. 3. The base-pairing in the renaturation product is of a precise nature, since the ‘melting’ temperature (80.5°C) is indistinguishable from that of the native DNA (80.5°C). 4. Centrifugation of mitochondrial DNA in an alkaline caesium chloride density gradient gives two bands, implying the separation of the complementary strands.