The Nucleic Acids of Sarcina lutea

Abstract

Summary: The deoxypentosenucleic acid (DNA) and pentosenucleic acid (PNA) were isolated from Sarcina lutea and their purine and pyrimidine contents determined. No differences were detected in composition of either the DNA or the PNA isolated from cultures grown at different times. The composition of the DNA from a streptomycin-resistant strain did not differ significantly from that of DNA from a normal streptomycin-sensitive strain, but the composition of the PNA from the resistant strain did differ significantly from that of PNA from the sensitive strain. The DNA contained a very high proportion of guanine and cytosine to adenine and thymine. In the PNA from both streptomycin-sensitive and resistant strains, guanine and cytosine predominated and the ratio of guanine + uracil to adenine + cytosine was nearly 1.