Separation of High-molecular Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Ribonucleic Acid

Abstract

So far there has been no really satisfactory method for the quantitative separation in high-molecular form of a mixture of DNA and RNA isolated from cells. The procedure based on the different solubility of DNA and RNA in salt solutions of varying concentration^1–3 is quantitatively unsatisfactory. Another method uses chromatographic separation on methylated albumin^4–7, but involves a series of steps which entail the danger of degradation in the recovery of the macromolecule. Specifically, single-stranded DNA cannot be quantitatively recovered without loss of its high-molecular character, because complete elution occurs only at strongly alkaline pH. Nygaard and Hall⁸ have recently described a micro method for the detection of DNA/RNA hybrids based on their adsorption on membrane niters of nitrocellulose containing material.