FIXATION OF C 14 O 2 INTO NUCLEIC ACID CONSTITUENTS BY BRUCELLA ABORTUS

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Abstract
Growing cells of a carbon dioxide-requiring strain of B. abortus were exposed to C14O2 while in the logarithmic growth phase. The cellular nucleic acids were isolated and hydrolyzed, and the constituent purines and pyrimidines separated chromato-graphically. When cells are grown in complex artificial media, all the radioactivity present in the nucleic acids is recovered in the pyrimidines: uracil, cytosine, and thymine. The nucleic acid purines, adenine and guanine, are inactive. Cells grown in synthetic media also fix C14O2 principally into pyrimidines; however, under these conditions the nucleic acid purines contain small amts. of radioactivity.