The occurrence and distribution of thymine and three methylated-adenine bases in ribonucleic acids from several sources

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Abstract
The ribonucleic acid from several microbial, plant and mammalian sources contained thymine, 2-methyladenine, 6-methylaminopurine and 6-dimethylamino-purine in amounts varying from 0.05 to 3.7% of the uracil. The compounds were isolated mainly as ribosides and identified by chromatographic and spectrosopic comparison with known samples. Each of the ribosides was converted into the corresponding base. In addition the riboside 2[image]-and 3[image]-phosphates were isolated; this and other evidence indicates that the 4 bases were originally present in 3[image],5[image]-phosphodiester linkage in the ribonucleic acid. Although all 4 methylated bases were detected in the ribonucleic acid from most of the microorganisms examined, thymine and 2-methyladenine were not found in liver ribonucleic acid and all these bases appeared to be absent from the ribonucleic acid of 2 plant viruses.