THE ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA OF RIBONUCLEIC ACIDS IN SOLID STATE AND IN SOLUTION

Abstract

The ultraviolet absorption spectra of nine samples of soluble, ribosomal, and viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) were studied over the range 3 500 to 1 830 Å. The spectra and the spectral changes which occur upon denaturation were the same for all types of RNA examined, which suggests that their secondary structure is comparable. Dehydration of solid films of RNA at room temperature caused spectral changes resembling those which occur when RNA is heated in aqueous solution. This indicates that the dehydration of RNA, like the dehydration of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), causes some loss of the regular stacking and pairing of the nucleotide bases in the helical regions. In contrast to DNA, the rehydration of RNA was not always complete at 98% relative humidity. The decrease of absorbance in the 2 900 Å region upon denaturation, previously reported by Rich and Kasha, was not confirmed with any of the RNA samples studied.