The composition of some microbial deoxypentose nucleic acids

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Abstract
Deoxypentose nucleic acids have been isolated from the human and bovine strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Escherichia coli (strain B/r), the bacteriophages T2 and T5 and the gipsy-moth polyhedral virus. Using paper chromatography the purine and pyrimidine compositions of these nucleic acids have been detd. quantitatively. Adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine are present in all the nucleic acids, but 5-methylcytosine could not be detected. The nucleic acids from different micro-organisms show a wide range of nucleotide composition differing from the general structural pattern found among the deoxypentose nucleic acids of higher organisms. The compositions of deoxypentose nucleic acids from the bacteriophages T2 and T5 are distinct, although similar, but differ greatly from that of the host (E.coli).