Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology Among Lactic Streptococci

A comparison was made by deoxyribonucleic acid homology of 45 strains of lactic streptococci, using two strains of Streptococcus cremoris and three strains of Streptococcus lactis as reference strains. All S. cremoris strains were grouped together by deoxyribonucleic acid homology. S. lactis strains formed a second group, except that three strains of S. lactis showed a high degree of homology with S. cremoris strains. The three Streptococcus diacetylactis strains could not be differentiated from S. lactis strains. In spite of these differences between S. lactis and S. cremoris strains, the majority of S. cremoris, S. lactis, and S. diacetylactis strains studied had at least 50% of their base sequences in common. In contrast, Streptococcus thermophilus strains generally showed little relationship with the other strains of lactic streptococci. The relevance of these findings to the selection of starter strains for cheese making is discussed.     

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology Among the Fruiting Myxobacteria

Deoxyribonucleic acid similarities were determined by competition experiments. The several strains of fruiting myxobacteria tested showed from 23 to 89% homology with the reference strains Myxococcus xanthus (FB) and M. fulvus (M6).     

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Base Composition and Homology Studies of Leptospira

Four distinct genetic groups of leptospiras were demonstrated among selected pathogenic and "biflexa" serological types. Pathogenic leptospiras could be divided into two groups on the basis of per cent guanine + cytosine (GC) in their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). One group had 36 +/- 1%, the other 39 +/- 1%. The biflexa strains had DNA of 39 +/- 1% GC, but were further separated into two groups on the basis of DNA-annealing tests. Strains within groups had a high degree of specific duplex formation (75% binding or more with reference to the homologous DNA). There was little or no genetic relatedness between strains of the four groups (less than 10% DNA homology). The thermal elution midpoint of heterologous DNA duplexes was always lower than the homologous reaction. The serological relationships among strains were not meaningful in terms of relatedness determined by specific duplex formation.     

The Relationship between Satellite Deoxyribonucleic Acid, Ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid Gene Redundancy, and Genome Size in Plants

The buoyant density of ribosomal DNA is similar in species with or without satellite DNA, and in all species examined was distinguishable from that of the satellite DNA. In melon tissues (Cucumus melo) the percentage satellite DNA is not correlated with the percentage hybridization to ribosomal RNA. Satellite DNA sequences do not appear to be dispersed between those coding for ribosomal RNA. There is no correlation between the presence of satellite DNA and high ribosomal RNA gene redundancy, but there is a correlation between satellite DNA and small genome size, which results in a correlation between satellite DNA and a high percentage hybridization to ribosomal RNA. Satellite DNAs are defined as minor components after CsCI centrifugation.     

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis in Synchronously Growing Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Early log-phase cells of Mycoplasma gallisepticum A5969 were synchronized by holding in Eagle minimal essential medium (MEM) for 2 h. When transferred out of MEM into tryptose medium, the cells exhibited synchronous growth. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis proceeded continuously during this growth but stopped during the period of cell division. One round of DNA replication was observed per cell doubling, and a unique region of DNA was found to be permanently bound to the membrane.     

Size and Composition of Marek''s Disease Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from purified nucleocapsids of Marek's disease herpesvirus (MDV) was cosedimented with T4 and with herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA in neutral sucrose density gradients and with T4 DNA in alkaline sucrose density gradients. These experiments indicated that the intact MDV DNA had a sedimentation constant of 56S corresponding to a molecular weight of 1.2 x 10(8) daltons. In the alkaline gradients, the largest and most prominent band contains a DNA sedimenting at 70S corresponding to 6.0 x 10(7) daltons in molecular weight. The DNA is therefore double-stranded and not cross-linked. Isopycnic sedimentation of the MDV DNA molecules with SPO1, Micrococcus lysodeikticus, and HSV DNA gave a density of 1.705 g/cm(3) corresponding to 46 guanine plus cytosine moles per cent. Lastly, in hybridization tests the DNA hybridized with RNA of infected cells but not with that of uninfected cells supporting the conclusion that it is viral.     

Composition and Size of Shope Fibroma Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from purified virions of Shope fibroma virus (SFV) (by using DNA from Microccocus lysodeikticus as marker) had a buoyant density of 1.6996 +/- 0.0003 g/ml), hence a guanine plus cytosine (G + C) content of 40.4 +/- 0.3%, which is close to the G + C content of the DNA of susceptible rabbit cells (40.9 +/- 0.4%) and different from that of vaccinia virus DNA (35.5 +/- 0.4%). For the determination of the molecular weight of DNA, SFV and vaccinia purified virions, treated with Pronase and detergent, were cosedimented in sucrose density gradients. Results showed that SFV-DNA has a molecular weight of about 153 x 10(6) daltons. By electron microscopy, only one molecule corresponding to this value was observed (its length was 80.3 mum). The others had a median size of 49.8 mum +/- 0.9.     

Membrane Association of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid Growing-Point Region in Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Newly replicated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in Mycoplasma gallisepticum A5969 is membrane associated. Cells pulse-labeled 1 to 3 min with (3)H-thymidine are lysed by a freeze-thaw procedure. After brief sonic treatment to shear the DNA, differential centrifugation gives a cell fraction (P2) that is enriched sevenfold for pulse-labeled DNA. P2 contains 80% of the total adenosine triphosphatase activity, 65% of the total cholesterol, and morphologically intact terminal bleb structures. Three to four minutes are needed to fully label the DNA growing-point region, whereas 7 to 8 min are required to "chase" 50% of the (3)H-labeled DNA. This pulse-chase removes 80 to 85% of the nascent DNA from the P2 fraction.     

Base Ratio and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology Studies of Six Staphylococcus aureus Typing Bacteriophages

Genetic relatedness among Staphylococcus aureus typing bacteriophages 80, 47, 81, 71, 77, and 187 was investigated by using base ratio determinations and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-DNA hybridization. Guanine/cytosine (G/C) content, as determined by thermal denaturation and chromatographic analysis of the purines released by acid hydrolysis of the DNA, was between 31 and 36%. No pattern correlating G/C content with serological or lytic group was discernible. DNA-DNA hybridization studies indicated high degrees of homology (43% or more) among the genomes of phages in the same serological group. Less homology (29% or less) was observed between the genomes of phages belonging to different serological groups. These findings implied a positive correlation between serological and genetic relatedness.     

Partial Purification of a Membrane-Associated Deoxyribonucleic Acid Complex from Mycoplasma gallisepticum

A Mycoplasma gallisepticum subcellular fraction (P2), which contains the deoxyribonucleic acid replication complex, can be isolated by differential centrifugation of freeze-thaw-lysed cells. The nascent deoxyribonucleic acid is released from P2 by Lubrol-WX, sodium dodecyl sulfate, Pronase, and deoxyribonuclease, but not by saponin, ribonuclease, phospholipase C, or high-frequency sonic treatment. Sonic treatment further fractionates the cell ghost and allows partial purification, on sucrose density gradients, of a deoxyribonucleic acid replication complex attached to the cells' polar membrane-bleb-infrableb structures.     

Specific Strains of Bacteroides Species in Human Fecal Flora as Measured by Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology

Membrane competition homology experiments were used to compare Bacteroides uniformis and Bacteroides vulgatus isolates obtained from fecal samples from different individuals and isolates obtained from fecal samples of single individuals. Isolates of B. uniformis, when isolated from different individuals, had interstrain deoxyribonucleic acid homology values that ranged from 63 to 95%, with most of the values being in the 70 to 85% range. When isolates obtained from a single individual were compared, each species was represented by one or two groups of very closely related organisms, with each group having essentially 100% interstrain homology. When strains from two groups were compared with each other, the homology values were in the same range as when organisms were isolated from different individuals. Isolates which have nearly 100% homology with each other persisted in fecal samples collected over a 5- to 6-month period. It appears that the colon of each person may be populated by bacterial strains that are specific for that individual. Somatic antigen serotyping has been used as an indicator for specific Escherichia coli strains in fecal samples. Two isolates having the same O, K, and H antigens had 99% homology, but when only O and H antigens were in common, the homology values were in the 70 to 85% range. It seems that isolates of a given serotype, when isolated from a single individual, may represent a unique strain, but isolates of a given serotype, when isolated from different individuals, probably do not.     

Activity of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Fragments of Defined Size in Bacillus subtilis Transformation

The transforming activity of Bacillus subtilis deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that had been sheared and purified with respect to size by sucrose gradient sedimentation is given as a function of the DNA molecular weight. It is shown (i) that fragments of median molecular weight 1.2 x 10(6) have finite activity (10(-4)), (ii) that the shape of the activity-versus-molecular weight function is qualitatively similar to that observed previously for Diplococcus pneumoniae, and (iii) that this shape precludes interpretation in terms of critical size models.     

Characterization and Relatedness of Marine Vibrios Pathogenic to Fish: Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology and Base Composition

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolated from several pathogenic marine vibrios was utilized in studies of base composition and nucleotide sequence relationships. Patterns of relatedness inferred from DNA criteria were found to correlate closely with those inferred from morphological, physiological, and serological analysis of the same organisms. The utility of the phenotypic and genotypic approaches to the determination of relatedness is discussed.     

Transformation and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Size: Extent of Degradation on Entry Varies with Size of Donor

The fate of label introduced as donor deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) into competent cells of Diplococcus pneumoniae was determined immediately after entry at 25 C, as a function of the size of the donor DNA. Part of the label is found to be acid soluble, part has been incorporated into chromosomal DNA, apparently through reincorporation of degraded donor DNA, and part is found in single strands of length smaller than that of the input donor DNA strands. The last fraction apparently constitutes the precursor for integration of intact donor genetic markers and is referred to as the intact fraction. For large donor DNA the intact fraction contains over 80% of the total intracellular label, but the median strand length has been reduced to 2.2 x 10(6) daltons. For small donor molecules (1 x 10(5) to 6 x 10(5) daltons per strand) the fraction intact increases with donor size from 10 to 50% of the total intracellular label, and the median strand length of this fraction is half that of the donor strands. By combining these results with earlier data on the size dependence of the yield of transformants per unit of total intracellular donor label, we have calculated the probability that a marker in the intact fraction will be integrated, as a function of the length of the donor strand after entry. This probability has a linear dependence on strand length for activities below 40% of maximum, and extrapolates to zero activity at 77,000 daltons per strand.     

Ultraviolet-Induced Cross-Links in the Deoxyribonucleic Acid of Single-Stranded Deoxyribonucleic Acid Viruses as a Probe of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Packaging

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated phiX174 sediments in alkali at rates up to 1.7 times that of unirradiated phiX174 DNA and is observed as a condensed, cross-linked structure when examined in the electron microscope by the formamide spreading technique. This structure appears to result from multiple cross-links induced in the tightly coiled DNA contained within the spherical phiX174 capsid. In contrast, the DNA extracted after UV irradiation of the filamentous bacteriophage M13 is not strikingly altered in its sedimentation properties and appears by electron microscopy to be rod-shaped as a result of side-to-side association of the circular DNA. The differences in these UV-induced structures reflect the differences in the packaging of the single-stranded DNA in the two virions.     

Capsid Size and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Length: the Petite Variant of Bacteriophage T4

A mutant which produces a small-headed ("petite") variant of bacteriophage T4 is described. The mutation (E920g) maps in a new gene (66) between genes 23 and 24. Petite phage particles composed up to 70% of the phage yield. The petite phage was nonviable upon single infection but produced progeny when two or more infected a cell. Its genome was shortened by a random deletion of about 30%, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from the particles was 0.68 the length of normal T4 DNA. The reduction in DNA length was accompanied by a proportional reduction in head volume. Double mutants between E920g and head-defective mutants in gene 21 produced unusually high frequencies of spherical capsidlike structures (tau-particles).     

Characterization of Excess Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesized by Pneumococci in the Presence of Polyadenylic Acid and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Precursors

Excess deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesized by cell suspensions of encapsulated pneumococci in the presence of polyadenylic acid plus all eight of the naturally occurring deoxyribonucleosides and deoxyribonucleotides has been characterized in several ways. The DNA represents complete molecules, is synthesized by a relatively large population at a steady rate, and is replicated in a semiconservative manner.     

Replication of Viral Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Breakdown of Cellular Deoxyribonucleic Acid in Epstein-Barr Virus Infection

Infection of Raji cells with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes suppression of cellular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis and fragmentation of the cellular DNA. About 1,000 copies of EBV DNA of normal size (about 5 x 10(7) daltons in a single strand, as shown in an alkaline gradient) are synthesized per cell.