Open AccessInteraction between Denatured DNA and Ribosomal RNA from Bacteria: Characterisation of DNA Sites Interacting with Ribosomal RNA at Room Temperature
Author(s) -
Arcà M.,
Mauro E.,
Frontali L.,
Tecce G.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
european journal of biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1432-1033
pISSN - 0014-2956
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1968.tb00393.x
Subject(s) - rna , ribonuclease , dna , base pair , ribosomal rna , nucleotide , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene
The interaction which takes place at room temperature between bacterial denatured DNA and ribosomal RNA has been studied by filtration on nitrocellulose filters and on Sephadex columns. The optimal conditions for this kind of interaction have been determined. The melting curves and the effect of ribonuclease treatment are consistent with the hypothesis that in this kind of hybrids short base paired regions are present and unpaired RNA tails remain which are digested by ribonuclease. The average length of base paired regions has been shown to be about 20 nucleotides. The sites on DNA which can interact with RNA at room temperature and which are located in all studied cases on the transcribed DNA strand (or transcribed regions of both strands), have been shown by saturation experiments to cover a large proportion (0.55% in Bacillus stearothermophilus ) of bacterial DNA. An approximate calculation of the number of these sites in DNA from B. stearotermophilus , made on the basis of the present results, indicates the existence of one site per 1800 nucleotide pairs.