A METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF DESOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID, RIBONUCLEIC ACID, AND PHOSPHOPROTEINS IN ANIMAL TISSUES

Abstract

The methods used at present for the determination of the higher nucleic acids in organs are based on certain color reactions of their carbohydrate components. The quantitative evaluation of these color tests gives satisfactory results with the free carbohydrates and with the purine nucleosides and nucleotides. The application of the color tests to the higher nucleic acids, however, encounters some serious difficulties which arise mainly from the resistance of the pyrimidine nucleotides against hydrolyzing agents,’ from the instability of desoxyribose, and from the necessity of separating the nucleic acid from the proteins. An extensive discussion of these problems has recently been given by Davidson and Waymouth (3). It occurred to us that these difficulties might be avoided if the quantitative estimations of desoxyribonucleic acid and of ribonucleic acid could be based on phosphorus determinations rather than on color tests of their carbohydrate components. The prerequisite for such a method would be the possibility of separating quantitatively the phosphorus fraction of ribonucleic acid from that of desoxyribonucleic acid. The separation of both P fractions can be achieved by the selective destruction of ribonucleic acid under the influence of a mild treatment with alkali. Steudel and Peiser (4)