Abstract
Ephrati-Elizur and Zamenhof1 demonstrated that deoxyribonucleic acid from Bacillus subtilis grown in 5-bromouracil-supplemented media contained this analogue and retained its transforming activity. It thus became important to determine the specific transforming activity for purified fractions of each of the three molecular variants of deoxyribonucleic acid which can be extracted from organisms treated with 5-bromouracil : (1) unlabelled deoxyribonucleic acid molecules, and those in. which 5-bromouracil has been substituted for thymine in (2) one strand (‘unifilar’ labelling) or in (3) both strands (‘bifilar’ labelling) of the double helix. Two strains of Bacillus subtilis, wild type2 and uracil-requiring strain 265 (kindly supplied by Dr. R. Guthrie), served as the donors of deoxyribonucleic acid. These were first grown with aeration at 37° C. for 4 hr. in nutrient broth supplemented with thymidine (10 µgm. per ml.), and afterwards incubated for 2–3 generations in minimal broth2 containing 2–5 µgm. 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (serving as the thymidylic acid synthetase inhibitor3), 25 µgm. uridine (to suppress the conversion of 5-fLuorodeoxyuridine to 5-fluorouracil and 5-fluorouridine) and 50–250 µgm. 5-bromodeoxyuridine per ml. Under these conditions, similar to those first employed for Escherichia coli by Lorkiewicz and Szybalski4, the molar ratio of 5-bromouracil to 5-bromouracil + thymine (5-bromouracil substitution) in non-fractionated deoxyribonucleic acid varied from 35 to 61 per cent as assessed by Chromatographic determination5.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ephrati-Elizur, E., and Zamenhof, S., Nature, 184, 472 (1959).
Spizizen, J., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 44, 1072 (1958); Fed. Proc., 18, 957 (1959).
Harbers, E., Chaudhuri, N. K., and Heidelberger, C., J. Biol. Chem., 234, 1255 (1959). Cohen, S. S., Flaks, J. G., Barner, H. D., Loeb, M. R., and Lichtenstein, J., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 44, 1004 (1958).
Lorkiewicz, A., and Szybalski, W., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 2, 413 (1960).
Djordjevic, B., and Szybalski, W., J. Exp. Med., 112, 509 (1960).
Meselson, M., Stahl, F. W., and Vinograd, J., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 43, 581 (1957). Meselson, M., and Stahl, F. W., ibid., 44, 671 (1958).
Szybalski, W., Experientia, 16, 164 (1960).
Szybalski, W., Opara-Kubinska, Z., and Ephrati-Elizur, E., Fed. Proc., 19, 306 (1960).
Eigner, J., Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University (1960).
Marmur, J., and Doty, P., Nature, 183, 1427 (1959).
Rolfe, R., and Meselson, M., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 45, 1039 (1959).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
SZYBALSKI, W., OPARA-KUBINSKA, Z., LORKIEWICZ, Z. et al. Transforming Activity of Deoxyribonucleic Acid labelled with 5-Bromouracil. Nature 188, 743–745 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/188743a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/188743a0
This article is cited by
-
Effect of Bromouracil-labelled Transforming Deoxyribonucleic Acid of Bacillus subtilis on Cell Growth
Nature (1963)
-
Distribution of 5-Bromouracil Among the Pyrimidine Clusters of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid of E. Coli
Nature (1962)
-
DNA synthesis and induced mutations in the presence of 5-bromouracil I. DNA synthesis in the presence of 5-bromouracil
Zeitschrift f�r Vererbungslehre (1962)
-
Growth of Bacteria Labelled with Heavy Isotopes for the Isolation of Nucleic Acids
Nature (1961)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.