CHAPTER 10
Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Ribonucleic Acid
Synthesis in Cell Cultures
J.
S E E D
Department of Radiotherapeutics 3 University of Cambridge, England
I. Introduction
317
A. Location
318
B. Structure
9
G. The Role of R N A
320
II. D N A Synthesis in Cell Cultures
321
III. R N A Synthesis in Cell Cultures
326
IV. The Relations between DNA, R N A and Nuclear Protein during the Interphase
of Rapidly Dividing Cells
330
A. Experiments with cell cultures
330
B. Comparison of cultures with growth in vivo
. • • • • 338
C. The Control of cell metabolism
341
References
344
I . I N T R O D U C T I O N
Perhaps the most striking advances in biological science during recent
years have concerned the biochemical basis of heredity. From the time
of the original work of Miescher (1897) it has been known that cell
nuclei contain acidic phosphorus compounds, which were later called
nucleic acids. These substances were shown to be combined with
proteins in the nucleus and, following Miescher's work, their presence
was demonstrated in a wide variety of tissues (see Davidson, 1960, and
Chargaff and Davidson, 1955a, b, 1960, for references). Further
studies revealed the existence of two types of nucleic acid, the one
containing a ribose sugar (ribonucleic acid, R N A ) and the other
containing deoxyribose (deoxyribonucleic acid, D N A ) . Hydrolysis of
R N A yielded the purines, adenine (A) and guanine (G) and the pyrimidines, cytosine (C) and uracil ( U ) , together with ribose and phosphoric acid: the products of the hydrolysis of D N A were similar, with
thymine (T) and deoxyribose replacing uracil and ribose respectively.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Ribonucleic Acid
Synthesis in Cell Cultures
J.
S E E D
Department of Radiotherapeutics 3 University of Cambridge, England
I. Introduction
317
A. Location
318
B. Structure
9
G. The Role of R N A
320
II. D N A Synthesis in Cell Cultures
321
III. R N A Synthesis in Cell Cultures
326
IV. The Relations between DNA, R N A and Nuclear Protein during the Interphase
of Rapidly Dividing Cells
330
A. Experiments with cell cultures
330
B. Comparison of cultures with growth in vivo
. • • • • 338
C. The Control of cell metabolism
341
References
344
I . I N T R O D U C T I O N
Perhaps the most striking advances in biological science during recent
years have concerned the biochemical basis of heredity. From the time
of the original work of Miescher (1897) it has been known that cell
nuclei contain acidic phosphorus compounds, which were later called
nucleic acids. These substances were shown to be combined with
proteins in the nucleus and, following Miescher's work, their presence
was demonstrated in a wide variety of tissues (see Davidson, 1960, and
Chargaff and Davidson, 1955a, b, 1960, for references). Further
studies revealed the existence of two types of nucleic acid, the one
containing a ribose sugar (ribonucleic acid, R N A ) and the other
containing deoxyribose (deoxyribonucleic acid, D N A ) . Hydrolysis of
R N A yielded the purines, adenine (A) and guanine (G) and the pyrimidines, cytosine (C) and uracil ( U ) , together with ribose and phosphoric acid: the products of the hydrolysis of D N A were similar, with
thymine (T) and deoxyribose replacing uracil and ribose respectively.