Abstract
CYTOKININS have been shown to have a hormone-like regulatory effect on the synthesis of DNA-dependent RNA (refs. 1 and 2). McCalla et al.3 demonstrated a very low level of incorporation of benzyladenine into the insoluble RNA fraction. We confirmed these findings and showed (unpublished work of G. Matolcsy, K. Böjthe and B. I. Pozsár) that benzyladenine was incorporated without degradation. Fox4,5 showed that labelled benzyladenine accumulates to a large extent in the soluble RNA fraction, and Letham and Ralph6 hydrolysed the isolated RNA from plant tissues, which liberated basic compounds with cytokinin-like activity. We have examined the effect of several pyrimidine base-analogues on nucleic-acid metabolism. The synthesis of RNA was increased most by pseudothymine (6-methyluracyl). This compound is a structural isomer of thymine and can be regarded as a potential antagonist of both uracyl and thymine. Its biological effect has been little studied, however7. This finding led us to compare this compound with 6-benzyladenine, known to be a substance with the biological activity of a cytokinin.
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POZSÁR, B., MATOLCSY, G. Regulatory Effect of N6-Benzyladenine and Pseudothymine (6-Methyluracyl) on the Synthesis of Nucleic Acids. Nature 217, 848–849 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/217848a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/217848a0
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