Abstract
Conclusions
The alkaline hydrolysis method described above for the histochemical localization of RNA and its differentiation from DNA is a simple and convenient method for general use. It is apparently also as reliable as any procedure previously reported.
The differential hydrolysis of RNA and DNA probably is due to the position of the phosphoric acid residues connecting the nucleotides. Because of the greater resistance of the DNA to alkaline hydrolysis as compared to the resistance of RNA, Levene and Tipson(9) have advanced the opinion that the hydroxyls of carbons 3 and 5 of neighboring desoxyribose units of DNA are connected. In RNA; the hydroxyls of carbons 2 and 3 of the ribose units probably are involved. The data obtained in the present study afford further evidence of the resistance of DNA to mild alkaline hydrolvsis.
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