Open AccessComposition of the 3′‐Phosphate Penultimate Nucleotides Released from Calf‐Thymus DNA by Spleen Acid DNAase
Author(s) -
DevillersThiery Anne,
Ehrlich Stanislav D.,
Bernardi Giorgio
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
european journal of biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1432-1033
pISSN - 0014-2956
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1973.tb03075.x
Subject(s) - nucleotide , phosphate , spleen , biochemistry , oligonucleotide , chemistry , dna , enzyme , microbiology and biotechnology , composition (language) , nucleic acid , deoxyribonucleases , biology , gene , immunology , linguistics , philosophy
The composition of the 3′‐phosphate penultimate nucleotide liberated by spleen acid DNAase was determined using two different experimental approaches involving the use of pancreatic DNAase, in the presence of Mn 2+ , to degrade the oligonucleotide released by the former enzyme. The results obtained using both approaches indicate that the 3′‐phosphate penultimate nucleotide is highly specific. Since previous work had already shown that the 3′‐phosphate terminal and the 5′‐hydroxy terminal and penultimate nucleotides also have compositions which very significantly deviate from those expected on the basis of a non‐specific attack, the conclusion is drawn that spleen DNAase recognizes sequences at least four nucleotides long.