ARTICLE

INCORPORATION OF NUCLEOTIDES INTO NUCLEI OF FIXED CELLS BY DNA POLYMERASE

R. C. von Borstel ¹, D. M. Prescott ¹, and F. J. Bollum ¹

¹ From the Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Dr. Prescott's present address is the Department of Anatomy, University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver, and Dr. Bollum's present address is the Department of Biochemistry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington

The enzyme calf thymus polymerase requires denatured or single-stranded DNA as a primer for DNA synthesis and is inactive on native DNA preparations. The enzyme and tritium-labeled deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates were incubated with alcohol-fixed and Carnoy-fixed tissue preparations to see if primer DNA could be found in several types of cells undergoing DNA synthesis. In all cases, low-pH controls were prepared for comparison. Priming activity was not found in nuclei that had been fixed in alcohol. Priming activity was found in cell nuclei that had been fixed with an acid fixative or had been treated at a low pH prior to treatment with the enzyme reaction mixture.

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Price, G. B., Modak, S. P., Makinodan, T. (1971). Age-Associated Changes in the DNA of Mouse Tissue. Science 171: 917-920 [Abstract]  

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