Abstract: | The effect of solubilization of deoxyribonucleoproteins (DNP) in a medium of near-physiological ionic strength after treatment with the mutagen N-nitroso-N-methylurea (NMU) is highly dependent on the NMU concentration. To convert DNP into a soluble state, the critical number of groups in the DNA and protein must evidently be modified. On the basis of data obtained by the circular dichroism method and by viscosimetry it is concluded that after treatment with NMU the DNP complex becomes soluble in solvents with near-physiological ionic strength largely as a result of labilization and dissociation of the DNA-protein bonds.Laboratory of Biophysics, Institute of Medical Genetics, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. Sector of Kinetics of Chemical and Biological Processes, Institute of Chemical Physics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Laboratory of Physical Methods of Investigation, D. I. Ivanovskii Institute of Virology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR S. S Debov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 81, No. 6, pp. 674–677, June, 1976. |