Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published July 1, 1976 | public
Journal Article

Sequence complexity of the RNA accumulated in Oocytes of Arbacia punctulata

Abstract

The sequence complexity of the RNA present in mature oocytes of the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata was measured by DNA-RNA hybridization. Small quantities of single copy [^3H]DNA were hybridized with large excesses of RNA and the amount of [^3H]DNA-RNA hybrids formed was assayed by hydroxyapatite. At termination of the reaction, which follows pseudo-first-order kinetics, 2.6% of the reactable single copy [^3H]DNA mass is present in RNA-DNA hybrids. This DNA was isolated, shown to be rehybridizable to RNA and, within the range of detectability, to consist solely of nonrepetitive sequences. Assuming asymmetric transcription, 5.2% of the genomic single copy sequence, or 3.0 × 10^7 nucleotides, is represented in oocyte RNA. The kinetics of hybridization indicate that these sequences are included in approximately 1–2% of the oocyte RNA.

Additional Information

© 1976 Academic Press, Inc. Accepted February 16, 1976. We would like to thank Dr. Ken Kleene of the University of Hawaii for collaboration in the preparation of Arbacia single copy DNA and Drs. Dale Graham and L. Dennis Smith for many helpful discussions. This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Training Grant HD00014 to the Marine Biological Laboratory Embryology Course, with which the authors were associated during most of the experimental work described.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023