METABOLISM OF NUCLEIC ACIDS IN U.V. IRRADIATED L-STRAIN CELLS TREATED WITH NATIVE DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID

Abstract— In our earlier papers we described the recovery of U.V. irradiated L-strain cells by means of nucleic acids. In an attempt to get better insight in the mechanism(s) leading to this recovery we studied the effect of native DNA on the metabolism of nucleic acids of recipient cells. In these experiments we have found that the label isologous DNA-C¹⁴ is incorporated in DNA of normal and irradiated recipient cells. The rate of DNA-C¹⁴ label incorporation in the DNA of irradiated recipient cells is slower than in the unirradiated controls. The presence of thymidine in the incubation media reduces the incorporation rate of DNA-C¹⁴. When the irradiated cells have been growing in a medium containing isologous DNA in presence of thymidine or heterologous DNA the recovery effect was not observed.